BBC

The **British Broadcasting Corporation** (**BBC**) is a British public service broadcaster. Headquartered at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, it is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 22,000 staff in total, more than 16,000 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.

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 British 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 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'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 21st century, the BBC has played a prominent role in British life and culture. It is also known colloquially as "The Beeb", "Auntie", or a combination of both (as "Auntie Beeb").

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2. ↑ BBC: World's largest broadcaster & Most trusted media brand. Media Newsline (13 August 2009). Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved on 23 September 2010.
3. ↑ BBC Full Financial Statements 2013/14. BBC (July 2014). Retrieved on 1 March 2015.
4. ↑ Digital licence. Prospect. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved on 23 September 2010.
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6. ↑ BBC Annual report 2013/14. BBC. Retrieved on 1 January 2015.
7. ↑ Hacker, James (4 February 2014). Freedom of Information Request-RFI20150047. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 31 October 2015.
8. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
9. ↑ BBC – Governance – Annual Report 2013/14.
10. ↑ BBC Annual Report & Accounts 2008/9: FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved on 12 February 2010.
11. ↑ TV Licensing: *Legislation and policy*. Retrieved on 12 February 2010.
12. ↑ BBC Press Office: TV Licence Fee: facts & figures. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved on 12 February 2010.
13. ↑ BBC Worldwide wins Queen's Enterprise award. MediaWeek (21 April 2009). Retrieved on 27 June 2019.
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