BBC

BBC

For other uses see BBC
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Type Broadcast radio, television and online
Country United Kingdom
Availability National
International
Founded by John Reith
Motto "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation"
Key people Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman, BBC Trust
Mark Thompson, Director-General (Chairman of the Executive Board).
Launch date 1922 (radio)
1927 (incorporation)
1932 (television)
British Broadcasting Company Ltd.


The British Broadcasting Corporation, almost always referred to by its abbreviation "the BBC",[1] is the world's largest broadcaster.[2] Unlike other broadcasters, it is a public service based quasi-autonomous statutory corporation run by the BBC Trust. It is funded yearly by a television licence (or licence fee) charged to all UK households which own a television, rather than being underwritten directly by the Government of the United Kingdom.

Today, it has bases or correspondents in more than 200 countries and, as officially surveyed, is available to more than 274 million households, though also possibly far more individual persons and groups than surveys can gather, and it is the oldest surviving entity of its kind and is more widely known internationally than any other news organization. The BBC's reach is significantly more than CNN's estimated 200 million.

Older domestic UK audiences often refer to the BBC as "the Beeb", a nickname originally dubbed by Peter Sellers in The Goon Show in the 1950s, when he referred to the "Beeb Beeb Ceeb". It was then borrowed, shortened and popularised by Kenny Everett.[3] Another nickname, now less commonly used, is "Auntie", said to originate from the old-fashioned "Auntie knows best" attitude, (but possibly a sly reference to the 'aunties' and 'uncles' who were presenters of children's programmes in early days)[4] in the days when John Reith, the BBC's founder, was in charge. The two nicknames have also been used together as "Auntie Beeb",[5] and Auntie has been used in outtakes programmes such as Auntie's Bloomers.[6]


History
Main article: Timeline of the BBC
See also: British Broadcasting Company

The BBC coat of armsThe original British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1922 by a group of telecommunications companies—Marconi, Radio Communication Company, Metropolitan-Vickers, General Electric, Western Electric, and British Thomson-Houston[7]—to broadcast experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November of that year, from station 2LO, located at Marconi House, London.[8]

The Company, with John Reith as general manager, became the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter (this expires in July 2017) of incorporation and ceased to be privately owned. To represent its purpose and values, the Corporation adopted the coat of arms, incorporating the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation".[9] Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1932 using an electromechanical 30 line system developed by John Logie Baird. The broadcasts became a regular service (known as the BBC Television Service) in 1936, alternating between a Baird mechanical 240 line system and the all electronic 405 line Marconi-EMI system. The superiority of the electronic system saw the mechanical system dropped later that year. Television broadcasting was suspended from 1 September 1939 to 7 June 1946 during the Second World War. A widely reported urban myth is that, upon resumption of service, announcer Leslie Mitchell started by saying, "As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted ..." In fact, the first person to appear when transmission resumed was Jasmine Bligh and the words said were "Good afternoon, everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh

The European Broadcasting Union was formed on 12 February 1950, in Torquay with the BBC among the 23 founding broadcasting organisations.

Competition to the BBC was introduced in 1955 with the commercially and independently operated television network ITV, however, the BBC monopoly on radio services would persist into the 1970s. As a result of the Pilkington Committee report of 1962, in which the BBC was lauded and ITV was very heavily criticised for not providing enough quality programming,[11] the BBC was awarded a second TV channel, BBC2, in 1964, renaming the existing channel BBC1. BBC2 used the higher resolution 625 line standard which had been standardised across Europe. BBC2 was broadcast in colour from 1 July 1967, and was joined by BBC 1 and ITV on 15 November 1969. The 405 line VHF transmissions of BBC 1 (and ITV) were continued for compatibility with older television receivers until 1985.

Starting in 1964 a series of pirate radio stations (starting with Radio Caroline) came on the air, and forced the British government finally to regulate radio services to permit nationally-based advertising-financed services. In response the BBC reorganised and renamed their radio channels. The Light Programme was split into Radio 1 offering continuous "Popular" music and Radio 2 more "Easy Listening".[12] The "Third" programme became Radio 3 offering classical music and cultural programming. The Home Service became Radio 4 offering news, and non-musical content such as quiz shows, readings, dramas and plays. As well as the four national channels, a series of local BBC radio stations was established.[13]

In 1974, the BBC's teletext service, Ceefax, was introduced, created initially to provide subtitling, but developed into a news and information service. In 1978 BBC staff went on strike just before the Christmas of that year, thus blocking out the transmission of both channels and amalgamating all four radio stations into one.[14][15]

Since the deregulation of the UK television and radio market in the 1980s, the BBC has faced increased competition from the commercial sector (and from the advertiser-funded public service broadcaster Channel 4), especially on satellite television, cable television, and digital television services.[citation needed]

The BBC Research Department has played a major part in the development of broadcasting and recording techniques. In the early days it carried out essential research into acoustics and programme level and noise measurement.[citation needed]

The 2004 Hutton Inquiry and the subsequent Report raised questions about the BBC's journalistic standards and its impartiality. This led to resignations of senior management members at the time including the then Director General, Greg Dyke. In January 2007, the BBC released minutes of the Board meeting which led to Greg Dyke's resignation. Many commentators have considered the discussions documented in the minutes to have made Dyke's ability to remain in position untenable and tantamount to a dismissal.[citation needed]

Unlike the other departments of the BBC, BBC World Service is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, more commonly known as the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad.

On 18 October 2007, BBC Director General Mark Thompson announced a controversial plan to make major cuts and reduce the size of the BBC as an organisation. The plans include a reduction in posts of 2,500; including 1,800 redundancies, consolidating news operations, reducing programming output by 10% and selling off the flagship Television Centre building in London.[16] These plans have been fiercely opposed by unions, who have threatened a series of strikes, however the BBC have stated that the cuts are essential to move the organisation forward and concentrate on increasing the quality of programming.
Corporation
The BBC was incorporated in the United Kingdom by its corresponding Royal Charter which decrees that its views be entirely independent of any private or governmental influence. It employs 28,500 people in the UK alone and the license fee today ensures it has an annual budget of more than £4 billion.[17][18] According to its charter, the BBC's mission is "to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain."[19] It is, per its charter, supposed to "be free from both political and commercial influence and answer only to its viewers and listeners".[20] In addition to being the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, BBC Newsgathering is the largest news system through its regional offices, foreign correspondents and agreements with other news services.[21] The BBC's motto is "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation".

The BBC was the first national broadcasting organisation[22] and was founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd; It was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and was made a publicly funded corporation in 1927. The corporation produces programmes and information services, broadcasting globally on television, radio, and the Internet. The stated mission of the BBC - to inform, educate and entertain - is laid down by Parliament in the BBC Charter.[23]

The BBC's domestic programming is primarily funded by levying television licence fees (under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949), although money is also raised through commercial activities such as sale of merchandise and programming. The BBC World Service, however, is funded through a grant-in-aid by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As part of the BBC Charter, the Corporation cannot show commercial advertising on any services in the United Kingdom (television, radio, or internet). Outside the United Kingdom the BBC broadcasts commercially funded channels such as BBC America, BBC Canada, and BBC World News. In order to justify the licence fee, the BBC is expected to produce a number of high-rating shows[citation needed] in addition to programmes that commercial broadcasters would not normally broadcast.


Royal Charter
The BBC is a quasi-autonomous Public Corporation operating as a public service broadcaster incorporated under a Royal Charter that is reviewed every 10 years. Until 2007, the Corporation was run by a board of governors appointed by The Queen or King on the advice of the government for a term of four years, but on 1 January 2007 the Board of Governors was replaced with the BBC Trust. The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and to answer only to its viewers and listeners.[20]

The most recent Charter came into effect on 1 January 2007.[20] It has created a number of important changes to the Corporation's management and purpose:

Abolition of the Board of Governors, and their replacement by the BBC Trust.
A redefinition of the BBC's "public services" (which are considered its prime function):
Sustaining citizenship and civil society;
Promoting education and learning;
Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;
Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;
Helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television.
The BBC must display at least one of the following characteristics in all content: high quality, originality, innovation, to be challenging and to be engaging.
The BBC must demonstrate that it provides public value in all its major activities.

Corporate structure
Trust Unit
Content Groups
Journalism (incorporates News, Sport, Global News and Nations and Regions)
Vision (incorporates all TV production)
Audio and Music (incorporates all radio production, music commissioning and BBC Radio Resources)
Future Media and Technology (Incorporates New Media, R&D, Information and Archives)
Professional Services
Strategy (formerly Strategy and Distribution and merged with Policy and Legal)
Marketing, Communications and Audiences
Finance
BBC Workplace (Property)
BBC People (to 2004, Human Resources & Internal Communications)
BBC Training & Development
Commercial Groups
BBC Resources Ltd
BBC Worldwide Ltd

Management
The BBC is a nominally autonomous corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen by the BBC Trust, formerly the Board of Governors.[24] General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General, who is appointed by the Trust