BBC

BBC
Founded	1922 (as the British Broadcasting Company)
President	Mark Thompson (Director-General)
Notable Works	Doctor Who Eastenders Extras Spooks The Office Match of the Day

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a public service broadcaster in the United Kingdom. It is publicly funded, which means that there are no ad-breaks in shows and only trailers for shows on BBC channels, promotions for TV licensing and digital television and (more rarely) Public Information Films between shows.

BBC One was the first national TV channel in the world.

The BBC's principal source of finance is the television licence. All UK owners of TV sets must buy a licence, with differential prices for colour and black & white sets (£126.50 and £42 per year respectively, as of 2006); over-75s do not have to pay, and registered blind people receive a 50% concession. Despite its name, the licence is simply a ring-fenced tax, meaning that the BBC is not financed through general taxation. The ring fencing gives the BBC some (though by no means complete) immunity to government pressure, since it is wholly independent of the general government budgeting, and has proved sufficiently effective in this that governments both left and right have come into conflict with the BBC over the years. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport sets the fee.

Further safeguards to the independence of the BBC are its management via a Board of Governors and its Royal Charter, which gives it the mission to 'inform, educate and entertain'.

Television Channels

The BBC broadcasts the following TV channels:

• BBC One
• BBC Two
• BBC Three
• BBC Four
• CBBC
• CBeebies
• BBC News 24
• BBC Parliament
• Interactive TV

BBC Worldwide (a BBC commercial subsidiary) also has a joint venture with Flextech Television, resulting in UKTV, the second largest multi-channel broadcaster in the UK. Channels include:

• UKTV Gold
• UKTV G2
• UKTV Drama
• UKTV Style
• UKTV Food
• UKTV Bright Ideas
• UKTV Style Gardens
• UKTV Documentary
• UKTV People
• UKTV History

BBC Worldwide also has various other channels covering many parts of the world:

• BBC America
• BBC Canada
• BBC Japan
• BBC Food
• BBC Kids (Canada)
• BBC Prime
• BBC World
• Animal Planet
• People+Arts
• BritBox (a video on demand service jointly owned with ITV)

See also

• Category:BBC

External Sites

• The British Broadcasting Corporation
• How the BBC is run
• BBC Channel Information
• TV Licensing