BBC: Encyclopedia II - BBC - History

BBC - History

The British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1922 by various private firms, to broadcast experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November of that year.

The BBC, with John Reith as general manager, took on its current form in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter of incorporation. It started experimental television broadcasting in 1932, becoming a regular service (known as the BBC Television Service) in 1936. Television broadcasting was suspended from September 1, 1939 to June 7, 1946 during the Second World War.

Competition to the BBC was introduced for the first time in 1955 with the commercially and independently operated ITV. The BBC introduced a second TV channel, (BBC 2), in 1964, renaming the existing channel BBC 1. BBC 2 was broadcast in colour from July 1, 1967, and was joined by BBC 1 and ITV on November 15, 1969.

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.

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, programme level measurement, and noise measurement and established standards that rapidly spread, particularly throughout the British Empire. In this respect it filled a role that is now lacking in many areas, since it was motivated by the desire for quality, not profit.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki