The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the principal public service broadcaster in the United Kingdom, headquartered in the Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff. Its main responsibility is to provide public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. The BBC is an autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter. Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee, which is charged to all United Kingdom households, companies and organisations using any type of equipment to record and/or receive live television broadcasts the level of the fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament.
Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online.
History
The privately owned BBC was the world’s first national broadcasting organisation and was founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd. The original company was founded in 1922 by a group of six telecommunications companies—Marconi, Radio Communication Company, Metropolitan-Vickers, General Electric, Western Electric, and British Thomson-Houston—to broadcast experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November of that year, from station 2LO, located at Marconi House, London
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| Industry | Broadcasting |
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| Predecessor | British Broadcasting Company |
| Founded | 18 October 1922 |
| Founder(s) | Lord John Reith |
| Headquarters | City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Sir Michael Lyons (Chairman, BBC Trust) Mark Thompson (Director-General) |
| Services | Television, Radio & Online |
| Website | www.bbc.co.uk |