BBC: Encyclopedia II - BBC - The Corporation

BBC - The Corporation

BBC - Funding

The principal means of funding the BBC is through the television licence. Such a licence is required to operate a broadcast television receiver within the UK. The television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law but is collected privately and does not pass through the state before reaching the BBC, and hence it is inaccurate to refer to the BBC as a "state" broadcaster.

A similar licence used to exist for radios, but was abolished in 1971. These licences were originally issued by the British General Post Office (GPO), which was then the regulator of public communications within the UK. For a more detailed historical explanation see British Broadcasting Company.

In the case of the elderly (over 75), TV licences are funded by the government. Subsidised TV licences are available for the blind and the residents of residential care homes. Licence fees are set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (a Cabinet Minister). Collecting them has been the responsibility of TV Licensing (an autonomous arm of the BBC) since 1990, but much of the collection work is subcontracted to the independent companies Capita and AMV.

The television licence is often the subject of controversy; some argue that the licence is a regressive tax, in that the very poorest are those least likely to have a licence, and least able to pay the fine for not having a licence. However, supporters of the licence fee claim that it helps maintain a higher quality of programming on the BBC compared to its commercial rivals. Some also claim that it also leads to better programmes on the commercial channels as they seek to draw viewers/listeners away from the BBC's output.

Because government regulation controls its funding, the BBC is able to provide domestic public service broadcasting to educate, inform and entertain, free of commercial advertising. However, the BBC does engage in commercial advertising in its publications and some broadcasting activities. In theory the BBC is answerable only to the licence payer. World Service external broadcasting is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The BBC has the largest budget of any UK broadcaster. Income from commercial enterprises and from overseas sales of its catalogue of programmes has substantially increased over recent years. Its annual budget is approximately £3.7 billion.

The 2005 Annual report gave revenue sources in millions of:

• £2,940.3m licence fees collected from consumers.
• £624.3m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
• £247.2m from the World Service, of which £225.1m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £16.7m from subscriptions, and £5.4m from other sources.
• £23.5m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters and concert ticket sales.

In total, the BBC's group income is estimated at £3835.3m for 2005.

The BBC gives the following figures for expenditure of licence fee income:

• 50% - BBC One and BBC Two
• 15% - local TV and radio
• 12% - network radio
• 10% - digital (BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies)
• 10% - transmission costs and licence fee collection
• 3% - BBC Online, Ceefax, and Interactive Content (including bbc.co.uk and BBCi)

BBC - Management

The BBC is a nominally autonomous corporation, independent from direct government intervention. It is run by an appointed Board of Governors. General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General appointed by the governors.

The governors as of 19 January 2005 are:

• Michael Grade (Chairman)
• Anthony Salz (Vice Chairman)
• Professor Ranjit Sondhi (National Governor for the English regions)
• Professor Fabian Monds (National Governor for Northern Ireland)
• Professor Merfyn Jones (National Governor for Wales)
• Jeremy Peat (National Governor for Scotland)
• Deborah Bull
• Dame Ruth Deech
• Dermot Gleeson
• Angela Sarkis
• Richard Tait, appointed for a four-year term on 1 August 2004.

The current Director-General is Mark Thompson. On his first day in the role he announced a shake-up of senior management, including the replacement of the Executive Committee, formed by directors of divisions within the BBC, with a streamlined nine-member Executive Board currently consisting of:

• Mark Thompson (Director-General)
• Mark Byford (Deputy Director-General)
• John Smith (Chief Operating Officer)
• Zarin Patel (Group Finance Director)
• Caroline Thomson (Strategy)
• Stephen Dando (BBC People)
• Tim Davie (Marketing, Communications & Audiences)
• Jana Bennett (Television)
• Jenny Abramsky (Radio and Music)
• Ashley Highfield (New Media and Technology)

BBC - Current review of Royal Charter

The BBC's Royal Charter is currently under review. Although the Charter is widely expected to be renewed in 2006, some proposals have suggested dramatic changes.

On 2 March 2005 the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell published a green paper setting out her proposals for the future of the BBC. The main points of this are:

• Maintenance of the licence fee system until at least 2016
• Abolition of the BBC Governors, to be replaced by a "BBC Trust"
• Increasing outsourcing of production (a process already started by Mark Thompson)
• Reduced emphasis on "ratings for ratings' sake" and copycat programmes (such as reality television).

BBC - Political and commercial independence

The BBC is, in theory, free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners. However, the BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. This gave rise to the satirical name "Buggers Broadcasting Communism".

Similarly, during times of war, the BBC is often accused by the UK government, or by strong supporters of British military campaigns, of being overly sympathetic to the view of the enemy. This gave rise, during the first Gulf War, to the satirical name "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation". Conversely, some of those who style themselves anti-establishment in the United Kingdom or who oppose foreign wars have accused the BBC of pro-establishment bias or of refusing to give an outlet to "anti-war" voices. Some have argued that a current of anti-BBC thinking exists in many parts of the political spectrum and that, since the BBC's theoretical impartiality means they will broadcast many views and opinions, people will see the bias they wish to see.

Quite often domestic audiences have affectionately referred to the BBC as the Beeb, or as Auntie; the latter originating in the somewhat fuddy duddy Auntie knows best attitude dating back to the early days when John Reith was in charge.

Political influence may manifest itself via appointments to its Board of Governors and by threats to change the level of the licence fee. Commercial competition has influenced BBC programming on both radio and television throughout its history. Despite these criticisms, many still regard the BBC as a trusted and politically neutral news source across the globe, and in some areas the BBC World Service radio is the only available free press.

The BBC's current Political Editor, Nick Robinson, was previously a chairman of the Young Conservatives and has, as a result, attracted informal criticism from the current Labour government.

BBC - Location

Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London is the official headquarters of the BBC. It is home to the national radio networks Radio 2, 3, 4, 6 Music, and BBC 7. On the front of the building are statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest), by Eric Gill.

Broadcasting House is currently undergoing renovation, scheduled for completion in 2010. As part of a major reorganisation of BBC property, Broadcasting House is to become home to BBC News (both television and radio), national radio, and the BBC World Service. The major part of this plan involves the demolition of the two post-war extensions to the building and construction of a new building, to be of equal "architectural creativity", beside the existing structure. While the rebuilding process is being undertaken many of the BBC Radio networks have been relocated to other buildings in the vicinity of Portland Place.

In 2007/2008 BBC News is expected to relocate from the News Centre at BBC Television Centre to the refurbished Broadcasting House in what is being described as "one of the world's largest live newsrooms".

By far the largest concentration of BBC staff in the UK exists in White City. Well known buildings in this area include TVC (internal acronym for BBC Television Centre), White City, Media Centre, Broadcast Centre and Centre House.

As well as the various BBC buildings in London, there are major BBC production centres located in Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton and Newcastle upon Tyne. There are also many smaller local and regional studios scattered throughout the UK, some of which are known locally as "Broadcasting House" in imitation of the BBC's London headquarters.

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