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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster that tells the news like it is.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster.
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BBC
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Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. In much of the world, funding comes from the government, especially via annual fees charged on receivers. In the United States, public broadcasters may receive some funding from both federal and state sources, but generally most financial support comes from underwriting by foundations and businesses ranging from small shops to corporations, along with audience contributions via pledge drives. The great majority are operated as private not-for-profit corporations. Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in London and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 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 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.
Television licence
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence fee paid. The fee is sometimes also required to own a radio or receive radio broadcasts. A TV licence is therefore effectively a hypothecated tax for the purpose of funding public broadcasting, thus allowing public broadcasters to transmit television programmes without, or with only supplemental, funding from radio and television advertisements. However, in some cases the balance between public funding and advertisements is the opposite – the Polish TVP broadcaster receives more funds from advertisements than from its TV tax.
Countries using DAB/DMB
The radio technology known as "Digital Audio Broadcasting" (DAB or DAB+), and its TV sibling, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), is being operated in several regions worldwide, either in the form of full services, or as feasibility studies. As of 2017, 420 million people are able to receive DAB services, with over 2,100 DAB services on air in 38 countries. This article provides brief information on most of the regions using DAB, DAB+ and DMB. Australia were one of the first countries to commence large scale rollout of the newer DAB+ standard in 2009. As of 2017, there are nearly 25% of the population of the 5 metropolitan capitals (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) now listening to DAB+ radio each week.
Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation
The Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is Gibraltar's public service broadcaster. It has provided the community with a radio and television service since 1963. Modelled on the BBC, the Corporation was established in 1963 with the amalgamation of "Gibraltar Television", a private company, and the Government-owned radio service, "Radio Gibraltar" which started regular broadcasting in 1958. Unlike the BBC, the majority of GBC's funding comes in the form of a grant from the Government. GBC did receive a small amount of income from the levying of a television licence fee. However, it was announced in Gibraltar's budget speech of 23 June 2006 that the TV licence was to be abolished.
European Broadcasting Area
The European Broadcasting Area (EBA) is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as such:  The EBA includes territory outside Europe, and excludes some territory that is part of the European continent. For example, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were defined as outside the EBA borders until 2007. After EBA was expanded by the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) to include those three countries, the only ITU member state with territory in Europe while remaining outside the EBA is Kazakhstan. While Kazakhstan is excluded from EBA, it is still eligible to apply for membership of the Council of Europe.
Criticism of the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) took its present form on 1 January 1927 when Sir John Reith became its first Director General. Reith stated that impartiality and objectivity were the essence of professionalism in broadcasting. Allegations that the corporation lacks impartial and objective journalism are regularly made by observers, on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Another key area of criticism is the mandatory licence fee, as commercial competitors argue that this means of financing is unfair and has the result of limiting their ability to compete with the corporation.