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. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio.

It was sponsored by the Daily Mail 's Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba. įurther information: Timeline of the BBC The birth of British broadcasting, 1920 to 1922īritain's first live public broadcast was made from the factory of Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company in Chelmsford in June 1920. It is also known colloquially as The Beeb, Auntie, or a combination of both (as Auntie Beeb). įrom 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 British life and culture. In 2009, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its international achievements. 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.Īround 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. The fee is set by the British 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. 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 BBC is established under a royal charter and operates under its agreement with the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.

Headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, 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 British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom.

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