Britannian Broadcasting Corporation

The **Britannian Broadcasting Corporation** (**BBC**) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom. Headquartered at Broadcasting House in Londers, it is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, employing over 22,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 19,000 are in public-sector broadcasting.

The BBC is established under a royal charter and operates under its agreement with the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all Britannian households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch-up. The fee is set by the Britannian Government, agreed by Parliament, and is 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 the BBC's revenue comes from its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), 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. In 2009, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its international achievements.

From its inception, through the Second World War (where its broadcasts helped to unite the nation), to the popularisation of television in the post-WW2 era and the internet in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the BBC has played a prominent role in Britannian life and culture. It is colloquially known as the **Beeb**, **Auntie**, or a combination of both (**Auntie Beeb**).

## History

When it was founded in 1912, it was known as the Britannian Broadcasting Company and was a semi-private enterprise. It first published the Radio Times in 1913. The company was restructured into a new public corporation, the Britannian Broadcasting Corporation, and prohibited pseudo-commercial programming from its operations.

A television service started in 1925, and during the war, broadcasts were suspended. It wouldn't until 1946 when it resumed broadcasting.

## Operations

### Radio

* BBC Radio 1 - Broadcasts talk shows
* BBC Radio 2 - Broadcasts adult contemporary music
* BBC Radio 3 - Broadcasts classical music
* BBC Radio 4 - Broadcasts modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day
* BBC Radio 5 Live - Broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins.
* BBC Radio 6 Music - Broadcasts Alternative/Indie music
* BBC Radio 1 Extra - Broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes
* BBC Radio 4Xtra - Broadcasts black music
* BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra - Broadcasts sports programming

### Television

* BBC One
* BBC Two
* BBC Three
* BBC Four
* BBC Alba
* BBC Breizh
* BBC News
* CBeebies
* CBBC
* BBC Parliament