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British Broadcasting CorporationThe British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC is the most widely respected broadcasting organisation in the world. Affectionately known to local consumers as the "beeb" or "Auntie", the BBC was for many years the only television and radio provider in the United Kingdom. Prior to the introduction of Independent Television in 1955 and subsequently Independent Radio[?] in 1973, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent de-regulation of the British television broadcasting market produced cable television, satellite broadcasting and now digital television. Today the BBC broadcasts in almost every medium including digital satellite[?], digital terrestrial[?] (DTT) and the Internet. It is still generally regarded by viewers and listeners at home and abroad as providing news, entertainment and other broadcast services of the highest quality available anywhere.Prior to the establishment of the BBC a number of private companies had been making experimental radio broadcasts in the UK. The Post Office (under the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act) was responsible for the issuing of broadcasting licences and in 1919 it stopped issuing further licences because of the large number of complaints of interference to military communications received from the Armed Forces. As the number of radio receiving sets increased during the early 1920s the Post Office came under extreme pressure to allow national radio broadcasting. A committee of radio manufacturers spent several months discussing various proposals and the result was the establishment of the BBC. The BBC was founded as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922 by a consortium including Marconi, GEC, British Thomson Houston, Metropolitan Vickers, Western Electric and the Radio Communication Company. The initial remit of the company was to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service. On November 14, 1922, the first BBC station 2LO began broadcasting on mediumwave, from the roof of Selfridges[?] department store in Oxford Street, London. The following day 5IT in Birmingham, and 2ZY in Manchester went on the air. It took on its current form in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation. The form is that of an autonomous corporation run by a board of governors appointed by the incumbent government for a term of four years (formerly five years). The autonomous nature of the board of governors gives it an independence from direct government control. The BBC has taken advantage of its independence to criticise government policy from time to time. However the BBC doesn't have any constitutional protection for such criticism and in the past it has suffered as a result. The Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1904 instituted government regulation of radio broadcasting and reception under the authority of the Postmaster General. A licence scheme was introduced whereby anyone wishing to purchase or construct radio equipment was required to obtain a licence from the Post Office. With the founding of the BBC, the radio licence fees became its principal means of funding. The radio licence was eventually abolished in 1971 but a licence is still required for television reception. Today each household (with exemptions for the elderly and others) or business in the UK with a television has to buy an annual television licence. The license fees are set by the government but collected by the Post Office and given to the BBC. They ensure that the BBC is sufficiently funded to provide for the British public high quality and diverse media content designed to "educate, inform and entertain" as per the remit of its charter. Because of this unique funding method, BBC radio and television output has been free of the constraints of commercial advertisers; programme makers are, in theory, answerable only to the licence payer, but pressure from political parties via appointments to the board of governors and via threats over changes to the amount of the licence fee as well as competition with commercial television channels for audience share are still significant factors in the corporation's output. The BBC has also for many years received funding from British Government departments for certain sections of its output. For instance the World Service, which, as its name suggests is broadcast around the world, is funded by the Foreign Office. In recent years the BBC has also received large amounts of revenue from its commercial wing, particularly by exploiting its massive back catalogue of programmes. On March 3, 2001 a terrorist bomb located in a taxi exploded in front of the BBC's Television Centre. 11 people were seriously injured in the blast. The top suspect in the investigation is a dissident group from the Irish Republican Army called Real Irish Republican Army. On June 20, 2000 and again on June 30 2001 the BBC experienced serious power outages at their Television Centre facility in West London which not only knocked out all of their terrestrial and digital satellite television stations and all of the radio stations throughout the United Kingdom and as a result of a serious equipment failure the BBC's backup power generator at the Television Centre burst into flames. Personnel from Television Centre had to be evacuated and moved to other BBC facilities until police and fire allowed BBC personnel back into the building. In March 2003 the BBC announced that from the end of May 2003 (subsequently deferred to 14 July) it intends to transmit all eight of its domestic television channels (including the 15 regional variations of BBC ONE) unencrypted from the Astra 2D satellite; while the "footprint" of the Astra 2D satellite is smaller than Astra 2A from which it was previously broadcast encrypted, this will mean that viewers with appropriate equipment will be able to receive BBC channels over much of Western Europe without payment, although it is anticipated that there are some rights issues to be sorted out with programme providers. This move is estimated to save the BBC £85 million over the next 5 years.
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The BBC World Service is a major source of news and information programming around the world.
BBC TWO was the third television station (ITV was the second) for the UK; its remit is to provide more niche programming. The channel was due to launch on April 20, 1964, but was put off the air by a massive power failure that affected much of London, caused by a fire at Battersea Power Station. A videotape made on the opening night was recently rediscovered by a BBC technician. In the end the launch went ahead the following night, hosted by an announcer holding a candle. BBC2 (as it was originally spelled) was the first British channel to use UHF and 625-line pictures, giving higher definition than the existing 405-line system. In 1967 it became the first British channel to broadcast in colour, using the German PAL system that is still in use today although being gradually superseded by digital systems. (BBC ONE and ITV began 625-line color broadcasts simultaneously in late 1969). Unlike its contemporaries, BBC TWO doesn't have the usual soap opera or standard news programming. What BBC TWO is supposed to have is a breadth of programming: eclectic, fun and diverse. Although if anything with high audience viewing figures turns up on BBC TWO it is often 'stolen' by BBC ONE.
Regional variations also occur within the BBC ONE and BBC TWO television programme schedules. In places like Northern Ireland, rather than try to impose British programs on viewers (although some of the shows that are British are very popular, see The Good Life, One Foot in the Grave, Harry Enfield and Chums[?] and so on) the BBC has created other programs, like the Political fueled Give My Head Peace[?] and the Chat/Comedy show Patrick Kielty: Almost Live[?], which are among the most popular shows, it also imported such shows as The Simpsons. So, the BBC has always catered for everyone's needs.
The BBC was also the first company to introduce a teletext service, the Ceefax service starting in 1974.
See List of BBC television programming.
According to Alexa[?], the BBC's main website is the 13th most popular website in the world.
The BBC is known to Americans through the BBC America cable station and Lionheart TV which rerun BBC programmes. In addition, BBC television news appears nightly on many Public Broadcasting System stations.
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