The BBC
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Statutory corporation with a Royal charter |
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| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor | British Broadcasting Company |
| Founded | 18 October 1922 |
| Founder | John Reith |
| Headquarters |
Broadcasting House Portland Place, London, United Kingdom |
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Area served
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International |
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Key people
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Rona Fairhead (Chairman, BBC Trust) Lord Hall of Birkenhead (Director-General) |
| Products | |
| Services | |
| Revenue | £5.166 billion (2013/14) |
| Owner | HM Government |
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Number of employees
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20,951 (2014/15) |
| Website | bbc |
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation, and is the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with over 20,950 staff in total, of whom 16,672 are in public sector broadcasting; when part-time, flexible and fixed contract staff are included, the total number is 35,402.
The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBC's radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the BBC World Service (launched in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service), which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic, and Persian.
Around a quarter of BBC revenues come from its commercial arm BBC Worldwide Ltd, which sells BBC programmes and services internationally and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC World News, and from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd.
Britain's first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mail's Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba. The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office (GPO), was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts.
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Wikipedia