BBC

==History==
{{For timeline}}

===The birth of British broadcasting, 1920 to 1922===
Britain's first live public broadcast was made from the factory of [[Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company]] in [[Chelmsford]] in June 1920. It was sponsored by the ''[[Daily Mail]]''{{'}}s [[Lord Northcliffe]] and featured the famous Australian soprano [[Nellie Melba|Dame Nellie Melba]]. The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio.{{sfn | Briggs | 1985 | p=}}{{rp|47}} However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, the 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.{{sfn | Briggs | 1985 | p=}}{{rp|50}}

But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests{{sfn | Curran | Seaton | 2018}}{{rp|110}} and moved to rescind its ban in the wake of a petition by 63 wireless societies with over 3,000 members.{{sfn | Briggs | 1985 | p=}}{{rp|50–97}} Anxious to avoid the same chaotic expansion experienced in the United States, the GPO proposed that it would issue a single broadcasting licence to a company jointly owned by a consortium of leading wireless receiver manufacturers, to be known as the [[British Broadcasting Company|British Broadcasting Company Ltd]], which was formed on 18 October 1922.<ref>{{cite news |title=BBC 100: 1920s |url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/timelines/1920s/ |access-date=18 October 2022 |agency=BBC |archive-date=18 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018065159/https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/timelines/1920s/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|John Reith]], a Scottish [[Calvinism|Calvinist]], was appointed its general manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast.{{sfn | Curran | Seaton | 2018}}{{rp|110}} [[L. Stanton Jefferies]] was its first director of music.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Doctor |first1=Jennifer Ruth |title=The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVCtkShvDSkC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521661171 |page=402 |access-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811180433/http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CVCtkShvDSkC |archive-date=11 August 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved domestic manufacturers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The BBC: Public Institution and Private World|last=Burns|first=Tom|publisher=The Macmillan Press LTD|year=1977|isbn=978-0-333-19720-2|location=Great Britain|pages=1}}</ref> To this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to "inform, educate and entertain".<ref>{{cite news|date=24 February 2016|title=No need to change BBC's mission to 'inform, educate and entertain'|agency=UK Parliament|url=https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/communications-committee/news-parliament-2015/bbc-charter-review-report-published/|url-status=live|access-date=7 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031154543/https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/communications-committee/news-parliament-2015/bbc-charter-review-report-published/|archive-date=31 October 2016}}</ref>

===From private company towards public service corporation, 1923 to 1926===
The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate. Set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets.{{sfn | Briggs | 1985 | p=}}{{rp|146}} By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee.<ref name="Company History">{{cite news |title=BBC history, profile and history |url=https://www.companieshistory.com/bbc/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=ComapsniesHistory.com |archive-date=18 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518190601/https://www.companieshistory.com/bbc/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The committee recommended a short term reorganisation of licence fees with improved enforcement in order to address the BBC's immediate financial distress, and an increased share of the licence revenue split between it and the GPO. This was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee to fund broadcasts.<ref name="Company History"/> The BBC's broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, as was the prohibition on advertising. To avoid competition with newspapers, [[Fleet Street]] persuaded the government to ban news bulletins before 7 pm and the BBC was required to source all news from external wire services.<ref name="Company History"/>

Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee. By now, the BBC, under Reith's leadership, had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified (monopoly) broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss-making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a public service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the [[1926 general strike]] broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production, and with restrictions on news bulletins waived, the BBC suddenly became the primary source of news for the duration of the crisis.{{sfn | Curran | Seaton | 2018}}{{rp|117}}

The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position. On the one hand Reith was acutely aware that the government might exercise its right to commandeer the BBC at any time as a mouthpiece of the government if the BBC were to step out of line, but on the other he was anxious to maintain public trust by appearing to be acting independently. The [[Government of the United Kingdom|government]] was divided on how to handle the BBC, but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PM's own. Although [[Winston Churchill]] in particular wanted to commandeer the BBC to use it "to the best possible advantage", Reith wrote that [[Stanley Baldwin]]'s government wanted to be able to say "that they did not commandeer [the BBC], but they know that they can trust us not to be really impartial".<ref name="guardian180814">{{cite web |last1=Higgins |first1=Charlotte |title=BBC's long struggle to present the facts without fear or favour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/18/-sp-bbc-report-facts-impartial |website=The Guardian |access-date=19 May 2020 |date=18 August 2014 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218100055/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/18/-sp-bbc-report-facts-impartial |url-status=live }}</ref> Thus the BBC was granted sufficient leeway to pursue the government's objectives largely in a manner of its own choosing. The resulting coverage of both striker and government viewpoints impressed millions of listeners who were unaware that the PM had broadcast to the nation from Reith's home, using one of Reith's sound bites inserted at the last moment, or that the BBC had banned broadcasts from the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and delayed a peace appeal by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Supporters of the strike nicknamed the BBC the BFC for British Falsehood Company. Reith personally announced the end of the strike which he marked by reciting from Blake's "[[And did those feet in ancient time|Jerusalem]]" signifying that England had been saved.<ref>Crook, Tim (2002). "International Radio Journalism". Routledge.</ref>

While the BBC tends to characterise its coverage of the general strike by emphasising the positive impression created by its balanced coverage of the views of government and strikers, Seaton has characterised the episode as the invention of "modern propaganda in its British form".{{sfn | Curran | Seaton | 2018}}{{rp|117}} Reith argued that trust gained by 'authentic impartial news' could then be used. Impartial news was not necessarily an end in itself.{{sfn | Curran | Seaton | 2018}}{{rp|118}}

The BBC did well out of the crisis, which cemented a national audience for its broadcasting, and it was followed by the Government's acceptance of the recommendation made by the Crawford Committee (1925–26) that the British Broadcasting Company be replaced by a non-commercial, Crown-chartered organisation: the British Broadcasting Corporation.

===1927 to 1939===
[[File:Radio Times 1931 (masthead).jpg|thumb|left|The ''[[Radio Times]]'' masthead from 25 December 1931, including the BBC motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation"]]
[[File:John Logie Baird in 1917.jpg|thumb|right|Television pioneer [[John Logie Baird]] (seen here in 1917) televised the BBC's first drama, ''[[The Man with the Flower in His Mouth]]'', on 14 July 1930, and the first live outside broadcast, [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]], on 2 June 1931.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Man with the Flower in his Mouth|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02d2sm7|publisher=BBC|date=9 October 2017|access-date=20 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021180342/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02d2sm7|archive-date=21 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=BBC's first television outside broadcast|url=http://www.bbceng.info/additions/2016/first-scanner-prospero-2010a.pdf|publisher=Prospero|access-date=9 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009223351/http://www.bbceng.info/additions/2016/first-scanner-prospero-2010a.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The British Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on 1 January 1927, and Reith – newly knighted – was appointed its first Director General. To represent its purpose and (stated) values, the new corporation adopted the [[Coat of arms of the BBC|coat of arms]], including the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation".<ref name="Motto">{{cite book |editor-last=Knowles |editor-first=Elizabeth |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_f8b0 |edition=Oxford Reference Online |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=11 February 2010 |isbn=9780199208951 }}</ref>

British radio audiences had little choice apart from the upscale programming of the BBC. Reith, an intensely moralistic executive, was in full charge. His goal was to broadcast "All that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement.... The preservation of a high moral tone is obviously of paramount importance."<ref>[[Charles Mowat]], ''Britain between the Wars 1918–1940'' (1955) p 242.</ref> Reith succeeded in building a high wall against an American-style free-for-all in radio in which the goal was to attract the largest audiences and thereby secure the greatest advertising revenue. There was no paid advertising on the BBC; all the revenue came from a tax on receiving sets. Highbrow audiences, however, greatly enjoyed it.<ref>David Hendy, "Painting with Sound: The Kaleidoscopic World of Lance Sieveking, a British Radio Modernist," ''Twentieth Century British History'' (2013) 24#2 pp 169–200.</ref> At a time when American, Australian and Canadian stations were drawing huge audiences cheering for their local teams with the broadcast of baseball, rugby and hockey, the BBC emphasised service for a national rather than a regional audience. Boat races were well covered along with tennis and horse racing, but the BBC was reluctant to spend its severely limited air time on long football or cricket games, regardless of their popularity.<ref>Mike Huggins, "BBC Radio and Sport 1922–39," ''Contemporary British History'' (2007) 21#4 pp 491–515.</ref>

[[File:BBC Birmingham 1928.png|thumb|The BBC's radio studio in Birmingham, from the ''BBC Hand Book'' 1928, which described it as "Europe's largest studio"]]

John Reith and the BBC, with support from [[the Crown]], determined the universal needs of the people of Britain and broadcast content according to these perceived standards.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The BBC and national identity in Britain, 1922–53|last=Hajkowski|first=Thomas|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2010|isbn=9780719079443|location=New York, New York|pages=11}}</ref> Reith effectively censored anything that he felt would be harmful, directly or indirectly.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|title=Radio Modernism|last=Avery|first=Todd|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|year=2006|isbn=9780754655176|pages=21}}</ref> While recounting his time with the BBC in 1935, [[Raymond Postgate]] claims that BBC broadcasters were made to submit a draft of their potential broadcast for approval. It was expected that they tailored their content to accommodate the modest, church-going elderly or a member of the [[Clergy]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dawkins|first=Charlie|date=Spring 2016|title=Harold Nicolson, Ulysses, Reithianism|journal=The Review of English Studies|volume=67|issue=280|pages=558–578|doi=10.1093/res/hgv063|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:977bed97-a430-4524-a0dc-1ba68898ba04|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222192412/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:977bed97-a430-4524-a0dc-1ba68898ba04|url-status=live}}</ref> Until 1928, entertainers broadcasting on the BBC, both singers and "talkers" were expected to avoid biblical quotations, Clerical impersonations and references, references to drink or [[Prohibition in America]], vulgar and doubtful matter and political allusions.<ref name=":02"/> The BBC excluded popular foreign music and musicians from its broadcasts, while promoting British alternatives.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936: Shaping a Nation's Taste|last=Doctor|first=Jennifer|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0521661171|location=New York, New York}}</ref> On 5 March 1928, Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, maintained the censorship of editorial opinions on public policy, but allowed the BBC to address matters of religious, political or industrial controversy.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|title=A Social History of British Broadcasting|last1=Scanell|first1=Paddy|last2=Cardiff|first2=David|publisher=Basil Blackwell|year=1991|isbn=978-0631175438|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=75}}</ref> The resulting political "talk series", designed to inform England on political issues, were criticised by members of parliament, including Winston Churchill, [[David Lloyd George]] and [[Austen Chamberlain|Sir Austen Chamberlain]]. Those who opposed these chats claimed that they silence the opinions of those in Parliament who are not nominated by Party Leaders or Party Whips, thus stifling independent, non-official views.<ref name=":15"/> In October 1932, the policemen of the [[Metropolitan Police Federation]] marched in protest at a proposed pay cut. Fearing dissent within the police force and public support for the movement, the BBC censored its coverage of the events, only broadcasting official statements from the government.<ref name=":15"/>

Throughout the 1930s, political broadcasts had been closely monitored by the BBC.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|title=Truth Betrayed|last=West|first=W.J.|publisher=Redwood Burn Limited, Trowbridge|year=1987|isbn=978-0715621820|location=London, England|pages=15}}</ref> In 1935, the BBC censored the broadcasts of [[Oswald Mosley]] and [[Harry Pollitt]].<ref name=":15"/> Mosley was a leader of the [[British Union of Fascists]], and Pollitt a leader of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]. They had been contracted to provide a series of five broadcasts on their parties' politics. The BBC, in conjunction with [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|The Foreign Office]] of Britain, first suspended this series and ultimately cancelled it without the notice of the public.<ref name=":23"/><ref name=":15"/> Less radical politicians faced similar censorship. In 1938, Winston Churchill proposed a series of talks regarding British domestic and foreign politics and affairs but was similarly censored.<ref name=":23"/> The censorship of political discourse by the BBC was a precursor to the total shutdown of political debate that manifested over the BBC's wartime airwaves.<ref name=":23" /> The Foreign Office maintained that the public should not be aware of their role in the censorship.<ref name=":15"/> From 1935 to 1939, the BBC also attempted to unite the British Empire's radio waves, sending staff to Egypt, [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], Jamaica, India, Canada and South Africa.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|title=Broadcasting Empire|last=Potter|first=Simon|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780199568963|location=Oxford, England|pages=85}}</ref> Reith personally visited South Africa, lobbying for state-run radio programmes which was accepted by [[Parliament of South Africa|South African Parliament]] in 1936.<ref name=":32"/> A similar programme was adopted in Canada. Through collaboration with these state-run broadcasting centres, Reith left a legacy of cultural influence across the empire of Great Britain with his departure from the corporation in 1938.<ref name=":32" />

Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1929, using an electromechanical 30-line system developed by [[John Logie Baird]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=1920s|url=http://bbc.com/historyofthebbc//timelines/1920s|access-date=18 November 2020|website=bbc.com|language=en|archive-date=16 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516200700/http://bbc.com/historyofthebbc//timelines/1920s|url-status=live}}</ref> Limited regular broadcasts using this system began in 1932, and [[First day of television programmes|an expanded service]] (now named the [[BBC Television#History of BBC Television|BBC Television Service]]) started from [[Alexandra Palace]] in November 1936, alternating between an improved Baird mechanical 240-line system and the all-electronic [[405-line television system|405-line]] Marconi-EMI system which had been developed by an [[EMI]] research team led by Sir [[Isaac Shoenberg]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sir Isaac Shoenberg, British inventor|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Shoenberg|access-date=22 July 2021|work=Encyclopaedia Britannica|quote=principal inventor of the first high-definition television system|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020205748/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Shoenberg|url-status=live}}</ref> The superiority of the electronic system saw the mechanical system dropped early the following year, with the Marconi-EMI system the first fully electronic television system in the world to be used in regular broadcasting.<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman, Bruce|url=https://archive.org/details/hereslookingatyo0000norm/page/99|title=Here's Looking at You: The Story of British Television 1908–1939|year=1984|isbn=978-0-563-20102-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/hereslookingatyo0000norm/page/99 99]|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation }}</ref>

====BBC versus other media====
[[File:Royal broadcast, Christmas 1934 (Our Generation, 1938).jpg|thumb|left|King [[George V]] giving the 1934 [[Royal Christmas Message]] on BBC Radio. The annual message typically reflects on the year's major events.]]
The success of broadcasting provoked animosities between the BBC and well-established media such as theatres, concert halls and the recording industry. By 1929, the BBC complained that the agents of many comedians refused to sign contracts for broadcasting, because they feared it harmed the artist "by making his material stale" and that it "reduces the value of the artist as a visible music-hall performer". On the other hand, the BBC was "keenly interested" in a cooperation with the recording companies who "in recent years&nbsp;... have not been slow to make records of singers, orchestras, dance bands, etc. who have already proved their power to achieve popularity by wireless." Radio plays were so popular that the BBC had received 6,000 manuscripts by 1929, most of them written for stage and of little value for broadcasting: "Day in and day out, manuscripts come in, and nearly all go out again through the post, with a note saying 'We regret, etc.'"<ref>''BBC Hand Book'' (1929), pp. 164, 182, 186</ref> In the 1930s music broadcasts also enjoyed great popularity, for example the friendly and wide-ranging [[BBC Theatre Organ]] broadcasts at [[St. George's Hall, London|St George's Hall]], London by [[Reginald Foort]], who held the official role of BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938.<ref>{{cite journal |date=28 October 1938 |title=National Programme Daventry, 31 October 1938 20.10: Farewell to Reginald Foort |journal=[[Radio Times]] |publisher=BBC |volume=61 |issue=787 |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c92472a1092345fdbaa66216e8ed9451 |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004180651/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c92472a1092345fdbaa66216e8ed9451 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Second World War===
[[File:George Orwell statue - BBC London (38562767202).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Statue of George Orwell]] outside [[Broadcasting House]], headquarters of the BBC]]
Television broadcasting was suspended from 1 September 1939 to 7 June 1946, during the [[Second World War]], and it was left to [[BBC Radio]] broadcasters such as Reginald Foort to keep the nation's spirits up. The BBC moved most of its radio operations out of London, initially to [[Bristol]], and then to [[Bedford]]. Concerts were broadcast from the [[Bedford Corn Exchange]]; the Trinity Chapel in [[St Paul's Church, Bedford]] was the studio for the daily service from 1941 to 1945, and, in the darkest days of the war in 1941, the [[Cosmo Gordon Lang|Archbishops of Canterbury]] and [[William Temple (bishop)|York]] came to St Paul's to broadcast to the UK and the world on the National Day of Prayer. BBC employees during the war included [[George Orwell]] who spent two years with the broadcaster.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/41a0eedb-c435-479d-aa63-a89ad81daf01|title=Orwell statue unveiled|date=7 November 2017|website=About the BBC|access-date=2 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119183632/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/41a0eedb-c435-479d-aa63-a89ad81daf01|archive-date=19 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

During his role as prime minister during the war, Winston Churchill delivered 33 major wartime speeches by radio, all of which were carried by the BBC within the UK.<ref>Christopher H. Sterling (2004). "Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set". p. 524. Routledge</ref> On 18 June 1940, French general [[Charles de Gaulle]], in exile in London as the leader of the Free French, made a speech, broadcast by the BBC, urging the French people not to capitulate to the Nazis.<ref>{{cite news|title=How de Gaulle speech changed fate of France|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8747121.stm|agency=BBC|date=4 January 2018|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831091459/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8747121.stm|archive-date=31 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 1940, Princesses [[Elizabeth II|Elizabeth]] and [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon|Margaret]] made their first radio broadcast for the BBC's ''[[Children's Hour]]'', addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities.<ref>{{Citation |title=Children's Hour: Princess Elizabeth |date=13 October 1940 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/childrens-hour--princess-elizabeth/z7wm92p |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127053143/https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/childrens-hour--princess-elizabeth/z7wm92p |work=BBC Archive |access-date=17 September 2022 |archive-date=27 November 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1938, John Reith and the [[British government]], specifically the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] which had been set up for WWII, designed a censorship apparatus for the inevitability of war.<ref name=":43">{{Cite book|title=The Echo of War|last=Nicholas|first=Sian|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0719046087|location=New York, New York|pages=18}}</ref> Due to the BBC's advancements in [[shortwave radio]] technology, the corporation could broadcast across the world during the Second World War.<ref name=":52">{{Cite book|title=Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign Against American "neutrality" in World War II|last=Cull|first=Nicholas|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0195111507|location=New York, New York|pages=42}}</ref> Within Europe, the BBC European Service would gather intelligence and information regarding the current events of the war in English.<ref name=":43"/><ref name=":62">{{Cite book|title=BBC Broadcasts to Portugal in World War II|last=Ribeiro|first=Nelson|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|year=2011|isbn=9780773414877|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]|pages=63}}</ref> Regional BBC workers, based on their regional geo-political climate, would then further censor the material their broadcasts would cover. Nothing was to be added outside the preordained news items.<ref name=":43"/><ref name=":62"/> For example, the BBC Polish Service was heavily censored due to fears of jeopardising relations with the [[Soviet Union]]. Controversial topics, i.e. the contested Polish and Soviet border, the deportation of Polish citizens, the arrests of [[Home Army|Polish Home Army]] members and the [[Katyn massacre]], were not included in Polish broadcasts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morriss|first=Agnieszka|date=2015|title=The BBC Polish Service During the Second World War|journal=Special Issue Research Project Reports|volume=21|issue=4|pages=459–460|doi=10.1080/13688804.2015.1077108|doi-access=free}}</ref> American radio broadcasts were broadcast across Europe on BBC channels. This material also passed through the BBC's censorship office, which surveilled and edited American coverage of British affairs.<ref name=":52"/> By 1940, across all BBC broadcasts, music by composers from enemy nations was censored. In total, 99 German, 38 Austrian and 38 Italian composers were censored. The BBC argued that like the Italian or German languages, listeners would be irritated by the inclusion of enemy composers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mackay|first=Robert|date=Fall 2000|title=Being Beastly to the Germans: music, censorship and the BBC in World War II|journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|volume=20|issue=4|pages=517|doi=10.1080/713669737|s2cid=192078695}}</ref> Any potential broadcasters said to have pacifist, communist or [[Fascism|fascist]] ideologies were not allowed on the BBC's airwaves.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Writing the Radio War|last=Whittington|first=Ian|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2018|isbn=9781474413596|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|pages=19}}</ref> In 1937, a [[MI5]] security officer was given a permanent office within the organisation. This officer would examine the files of potential political subversives and [["Christmas tree" files|mark the files of those deemed a security risk]] to the organisation, [[blacklisting]] them. This was often done on spurious grounds; even so, the practice would continue and expand during the years of the Cold War.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=David |last2=Lashmar |first2=Paul |title=The Blacklist in Room 105. Revealed: How MI5 vets BBC staff |url=https://www.cambridgeclarion.org/press_cuttings/mi5.bbc.page9_obs_18aug1985.html |work=The Observer |date=18 August 1985 |page=9 |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=13 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513210628/http://www.cambridgeclarion.org/press_cuttings/mi5.bbc.page9_obs_18aug1985.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hollingsworth">Mark Hollingsworth and Richard Norton-Taylor ''Blacklist: The Inside Story of Political Vetting'', London: Hogarth, 1988, p. 103. The relevant extract from the book is [http://bilderberg.org/mi5bbc.htm here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021004083825/http://bilderberg.org/mi5bbc.htm |date=4 October 2002 }}</ref>

===Later 20th century===
[[File:BBC AXBT Microphone (designed in 1944).jpg|thumb|left|Produced between 1934 and 1959, the [[BBC-Marconi Type A microphone]] has been described as an iconic symbol of the BBC alongside the channel's most famous emblem, the [[History of BBC television idents#BBC Television Service/BBC One|rotating globe]], which was introduced in 1963.<ref>{{citation|last1=Sargeant|first1=Paul|title=Looking Back at the BBC|year=2010|publisher=BBC|place=London|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ahistoryoftheworld/2010/10/looking-back-at-the-bbc.shtml|access-date=9 November 2010|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222192824/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ahistoryoftheworld/2010/10/looking-back-at-the-bbc.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
There was a widely reported urban myth that, upon resumption of the BBC television service after the war, announcer [[Leslie Mitchell (broadcaster)|Leslie Mitchell]] started by saying, "As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted&nbsp;..." In fact, the first person to appear when transmission resumed was [[Jasmine Bligh]] and the words said were "Good afternoon, everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh&nbsp;... ?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/baird/tvoff.php |title=Baird: The edit that rewrote history |last=Graham |first=Russ J. |date=31 October 2005 |access-date=11 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718223433/http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/baird/tvoff.php |archive-date=18 July 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[European Broadcasting Union]] was formed on 12 February 1950, in [[Torquay]] with the BBC among the 23 founding broadcasting organisations.<ref>"BBC Annual Report and Handbook". p. 215. BBC 1985</ref>

Competition to the BBC was introduced in 1955, with the commercial and independently operated television network of [[ITV (TV network)|Independent Television (ITV)]]. However, the BBC monopoly on radio services would persist until 8 October 1973 when under the control of the newly renamed [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] (IBA), the UK's first Independent local radio station, [[LBC]] came on-air in the London area. As a result of the [[Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting|Pilkington Committee]] report of 1962, in which the BBC was praised for the quality and range of its output, and ITV was very heavily criticised for not providing enough quality programming,<ref>{{cite web|title=Committees of Enquiry: Pilkington Committee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/more/pdfs/committees_of_enquiry.pdf |page=4 |date=1 June 1962 |access-date=30 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012060952/http://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/more/pdfs/committees_of_enquiry.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2006 |url-status=live }}</ref> the decision was taken to award the BBC a second television channel, [[BBC Two|BBC2]], in 1964, renaming the existing service [[BBC1]]. BBC2 used the higher resolution 625-line standard which had been standardised across Europe. BBC2 was broadcast in colour from 1 July 1967 and was joined by BBC1 and ITV on 15 November 1969. The 405-line [[Vhf#United Kingdom|VHF]] transmissions of BBC1 (and ITV) were continued for compatibility with older television receivers until 1985.
[[File:BBC TV Centre.jpg|thumb|[[BBC Television Centre]] at [[White City, London|White City]], West London, which opened in 1960 and closed in 2013]]

Starting in 1964, a series of [[pirate radio]] stations (starting with [[Radio Caroline]]) came on the air and forced the British government finally to regulate radio services to permit nationally based advertising-financed services. In response, the BBC reorganised and renamed their radio channels. On 30 September 1967, the Light Programme was split into [[BBC Radio 1|Radio 1]] offering continuous "Popular" music and [[BBC Radio 2|Radio 2]] more "Easy Listening".<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/27/bvradio127.xml&page=1 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |title=The day we woke up to pop music on Radio 1 |date=27 September 2007 |first=Imogen |last=Carter |access-date=30 September 2007 |location=London |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071018203739/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2007%2F09%2F27%2Fbvradio127.xml&page=1 |archive-date=18 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The "Third" programme became [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] offering classical music and cultural programming. The Home Service became [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] offering news, and non-musical content such as quiz shows, readings, dramas and plays. As well as the four national channels, a series of local BBC radio stations were established in 1967, including [[BBC London 94.9|Radio London]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|title=Radio in London|last=Partridge|first=Rob|date=13 November 1971|magazine=Billboard|access-date=2 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160125083315/https://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|archive-date=25 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1969, the BBC Enterprises department was formed to exploit BBC brands and programmes for commercial [[spin-off (media)|spin-off]] products. In 1979, it became a wholly owned limited company, BBC Enterprises Ltd.<ref name="briggs">{{cite book|last=Briggs|first=Asa|title=Competition|year=2000|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-19-215964-9|page=713|edition=Reprinted.}}</ref>

In 1974, the BBC's [[teletext]] service, [[Ceefax]], was introduced, created initially to provide subtitling, but developed into a news and information service. In 1978, BBC staff went on strike just before the Christmas, thus blocking out the transmission of both channels and amalgamating all four radio stations into one.<ref>[http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/continuity/guestroom.html The Guestroom for Mr Cock-up] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224233404/http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/continuity/guestroom.html |date=24 February 2008 }} Pick of the Continuity Announcers, 6 April 2000</ref><ref>[http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/itw/features/Ratings.html Ratings for 1978] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827202157/http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/itw/features/Ratings.html |date=27 August 2008 }} Independent Teleweb</ref> 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. In the late 1980s, the BBC began a process of [[divestment]] by [[Corporate spin-off|spinning off]] and selling parts of its organisation. In 1988, it sold off the [[Hulton Press Library]], a photographic archive which had been acquired from the ''[[Picture Post]]'' magazine by the BBC in 1957. The archive was sold to Brian Deutsch and is now owned by [[Getty Images]].<ref name=hulton-history>{{cite web|last=McDonald|first=Sarah|title=15 October 2004 Sarah McDonald, Curator Page 1 10/15/04 Hulton{{!}}Archive – History in Pictures|url=http://corporate.gettyimages.com/masters2/conservation/articles/HAHistory.pdf|publisher=Getty Images|access-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527044717/http://corporate.gettyimages.com/masters2/conservation/articles/HAHistory.pdf|archive-date=27 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1987, the BBC decided to centralize its operations by the management team with the radio and television divisions joining forces together for the first time, the activities of the news and currents departments and coordinated jointly under the new directorate.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Guider |first=Elizabeth |date=22 July 1987 |title=New BBC Management Team Sees Radio, TV Divisions Joining Forces |page=52 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref> During the 1990s, this process continued with the separation of certain operational arms of the corporation into autonomous but [[subsidiary|wholly owned subsidiaries]], with the aim of generating additional revenue for programme-making. BBC Enterprises was reorganised and relaunched in 1995, as BBC Worldwide Ltd.<ref name="briggs"/> In 1998, BBC studios, outside broadcasts, post production, design, costumes and wigs were spun off into BBC Resources Ltd.<ref name=guardian-resources>{{cite news|last=Holmwood|first=Leigh|title=BBC Resources sell-off to begin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/aug/15/bbc.television|access-date=28 May 2013|date=15 August 2007|location=London|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203153604/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/aug/15/bbc.television|archive-date=3 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[BBC Research Department]] has played a major part in the development of broadcasting and recording techniques. The BBC was also responsible for the development of the [[NICAM]] stereo standard. In recent decades, a number of additional channels and radio stations have been launched: [[BBC Radio 5 (former)|Radio 5]] was launched in 1990, as a sports and educational station, but was replaced in 1994, with [[BBC Radio 5 Live|Radio 5 Live]] to become a live radio station, following the success of the [[BBC Radio 4 News FM|Radio 4 service]] to cover the 1991 [[Gulf War]]. The new station would be a news and sport station. In 1997, [[BBC News 24]], a rolling news channel, launched on digital television services, and the following year, [[BBC Choice]] was launched as the third general entertainment channel from the BBC. The BBC also purchased The Parliamentary Channel, which was renamed [[BBC Parliament]]. In 1999, [[BBC Knowledge]] launched as a multimedia channel, with services available on the newly launched [[BBC Red Button|BBC Text]] digital teletext service (later rebranded as BBC Red Button), and on [[BBC Online]]. The channel had an educational aim, which was modified later on in its life to offer documentaries.

===2000 to 2011===
In 2002, several television and radio channels were reorganised. BBC Knowledge was replaced by [[BBC Four]] and became the BBC's arts and documentaries channel. [[CBBC (TV channel)|CBBC]], which had been a programming strand as Children's BBC since 1985, was split into CBBC and [[CBeebies]], for younger children, with both new services getting a digital channel: the CBBC Channel and CBeebies Channel.<ref>{{cite news|work=Digital Spy|access-date=26 December 2020|date=11 February 2002|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a6198/new-childrens-channels-from-bbc-launch.html|title=New children's channels from BBC launch|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923223511/http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a6198/new-childrens-channels-from-bbc-launch.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to the television channels, new digital radio stations were created: [[BBC Radio 1Xtra|1Xtra]], [[BBC Radio 6 Music|6 Music]] and [[BBC Radio 4 Extra|Radio 4 Extra]]. BBC 1Xtra was a sister station to Radio 1 and specialised in modern black music, BBC 6 Music specialised in alternative music genres and BBC7 specialised in archive, speech and children's programming.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inside the BBC: BBC Radio stations |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/whatwedo/publicservices#networkradio |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110103926/https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/whatwedo/publicservices#networkradio |archive-date=10 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Manchester big screen.jpg|thumb|left|England fans in [[Manchester]] during a [[2006 FIFA World Cup]] game shown on the [[BBC Big Screen]]]]
The following few years resulted in repositioning of some channels to conform to a larger brand: in 2003, BBC Choice was replaced by [[BBC Three]], with programming for younger adults and shocking real-life documentaries, BBC News 24 became the [[BBC News Channel]] in 2008, and BBC Radio 7 became BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2011, with new programmes to supplement those broadcast on Radio 4. In 2008, another channel was launched, [[BBC Alba]], a [[Scottish Gaelic]] service.

During this decade, the corporation began to sell off a number of its operational divisions to private owners; BBC Broadcast was spun off as a separate company in 2002,<ref name=broadcast-ltd>{{cite press release |title=BBC to launch new commercial subsidiary following DCMS approval |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/01_january/23/broadcastltd.shtml |access-date=28 May 2013 |publisher=BBC Press Office |date=23 January 2002 |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022204849/https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/1_january/23/broadcastltd.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2005, it was sold off to [[Australia]]n-based Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and [[Macquarie Bank]] Limited and rebranded [[Red Bee Media]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4708749.stm |title=BBC Broadcast sell-off approved |work=BBC News |date=22 July 2005 |access-date=11 December 2008 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313002531/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4708749.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The BBC's [[Information technology|IT]], [[telephony]] and [[Broadcast engineering|broadcast technology]] were brought together as BBC Technology Ltd in 2001,<ref name=broadcast-ltd /> and the division was later sold to the German company [[Siemens IT Solutions and Services]] (SIS).<ref name=bbc-2204>{{cite press release |title=BBC announces Siemens Business Services as Single Preferred Bidder |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/07_july/07/technology.shtml |publisher=BBC Press Office |access-date=4 June 2012 |archive-date=16 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216203543/https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/7_july/07/technology.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> SIS was subsequently acquired from Siemens by the French company [[Atos]].<ref name=atos-ariel>{{cite news |title=New firm to support BBC IT |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/14014213 |access-date=27 May 2013 |newspaper=Ariel |publisher=BBC |date=4 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130703052344/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/14014213 |archive-date=3 July 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Further divestments included [[BBC Books]] (sold to [[Random House]] in 2006);<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2006/06_june/bbc_books.shtml |title=The Random House Group acquires majority shareholding in BBC Books |publisher=BBC Press Office |date=22 June 2006 |access-date=20 December 2019 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123170442/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2006/6_june/bbc_books.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> BBC Outside Broadcasts Ltd (sold in 2008 to [[Satellite Information Services]]);<ref name=OBsale>{{cite press release |title=BBC announces successful bidder for BBC Outside Broadcasts |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/03_march/07/ob.shtml |publisher=BBC Press Office |access-date=28 May 2013 |date=7 March 2008 |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022204849/https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/3_march/07/ob.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Costumes and Wigs (stock sold in 2008 to [[Angels The Costumiers]]);<ref name=angels-costumes>{{cite news |title=New home for BBC costume archive |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7321453.stm |access-date=28 May 2013 |work=BBC News |date=30 March 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081206133931/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7321453.stm |archive-date=6 December 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[BBC Magazines]] (sold to [[Immediate Media Company]] in 2011).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/16/bbc-completes-magazines-sell-off |title=BBC Worldwide agrees £121m magazine sell-off |first=Mark |last=Sweney |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 August 2011 |location=London |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161221065706/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/16/bbc-completes-magazines-sell-off |archive-date=21 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the sales of OBs and costumes, the remainder of BBC Resources was reorganised as [[BBC Studios and Post Production]], which continues today as a wholly owned subsidiary of the BBC.

The 2004 [[Hutton Inquiry]] and the subsequent report raised questions about the BBC's journalistic standards and its impartiality. This led to resignations of senior management members at the time including the then Director General, [[Greg Dyke]]. In January 2007, the BBC released minutes of the board meeting which led to Greg Dyke's resignation.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/11/politicsandthemedia.bbc |title=Dyke departure minutes released |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=11 January 2007 |access-date=22 March 2010 |first=Matt |last=Wells |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131204094244/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/11/politicsandthemedia.bbc |archive-date=4 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Unlike the other departments of the BBC, the BBC World Service was funded by the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]]. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, more commonly known as the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad.

[[File:BBC Scotland.jpg|thumb|right|[[BBC Pacific Quay]] in [[Glasgow]], which was opened in 2007]]

A [[2005 BBC strike|strike in 2005]] by more than 11,000 BBC workers, over a proposal to cut 4,000 jobs, and to privatise parts of the BBC, disrupted much of the BBC's regular programming.<ref name="nyt-2005-05-24">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/world/europe/bbc-employees-stage-24hour-strike-to-protest-planned-job-cuts.html |title=BBC Employees Stage 24-Hour Strike to Protest Planned Job Cuts |newspaper=The New York Times |date=24 May 2005 |last1=Lyall |first1=Sarah |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104101806/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/world/europe/bbc-employees-stage-24hour-strike-to-protest-planned-job-cuts.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/23/britain.bbc/ |title=BBC strike hits TV, radio output |date=23 May 2005 |work=[[CNN]] |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104101808/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/23/britain.bbc/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006, [[BBC HD]] launched as an experimental service and became official in December 2007. The channel broadcast HD simulcasts of programmes on [[BBC One]], [[BBC Two]], [[BBC Three]] and [[BBC Four]] as well as repeats of some older programmes in HD. In 2010, an HD simulcast of BBC One launched: [[BBC One HD]]. The channel uses HD versions of BBC One's schedule and uses upscaled versions of programmes not currently produced in HD. The BBC HD channel closed in March 2013 and was replaced by BBC Two HD in the same month.

On 18 October 2007, BBC Director General Mark Thompson announced a controversial plan to make major cuts and reduce the size of the BBC as an organisation. The plans included a reduction in posts of 2,500; including 1,800 redundancies, consolidating news operations, reducing programming output by 10% and selling off the flagship [[BBC Television Centre|Television Centre]] building in London.<ref>{{cite press release |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/10_october/18/reform.shtml |title=Radical reform to deliver a more focused BBC |publisher=BBC Press Office |date=18 October 2007 |access-date=18 October 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071020051207/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/10_october/18/reform.shtml| archive-date= 20 October 2007 | url-status=live}}</ref> These plans were fiercely opposed by unions, who threatened a series of strikes; however, the BBC stated that the cuts were essential to move the organisation forward and concentrate on increasing the quality of programming.

On 20 October 2010, the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[George Osborne]] announced that the television licence fee would be frozen at its current level until the end of the current charter in 2016. The same announcement revealed that the BBC would take on the full cost of running the [[BBC World Service]] and the [[BBC Monitoring]] service from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and partially finance the Welsh broadcaster [[S4C]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Television licence fee to be frozen for the next six years |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11572171|access-date=6 October 2011 |work=BBC News|date=20 October 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111007165009/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11572171 |archive-date=7 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===2011 to present===
[[File:BBCBroadcastingHouse.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|The new extension to the BBC's [[Broadcasting House]], completed in 2012]]

Further cuts were announced on 6 October 2011, so the BBC could reach a total reduction in their budget of 20%, following the licence fee freeze in October 2010, which included cutting staff by 2,000 and sending a further 1,000 to the [[MediaCityUK]] development in [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], with BBC Three moving online only in 2016, the sharing of more programmes between stations and channels, sharing of radio news bulletins, more repeats in schedules, including the whole of BBC Two daytime and for some original programming to be reduced. BBC HD was closed on 26 March 2013, and replaced with an HD simulcast of BBC Two; however, flagship programmes, other channels and full funding for CBBC and CBeebies would be retained.<ref>{{cite news |title=BBC set to cut 2000 jobs by 2017 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926 |access-date=6 October 2011 |newspaper=BBC News |date=6 October 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111006124012/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926 |archive-date=6 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=BBC cuts at a glance |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15186116 |access-date=6 October 2011 |work=BBC News |date=6 October 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111006172317/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15186116 |archive-date=6 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=BBC cuts: in detail |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8810868/BBC-cuts-in-detail.html |access-date=6 October 2011 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=6 October 2011 |location=London |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111006131137/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8810868/BBC-cuts-in-detail.html |archive-date=6 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Numerous BBC facilities have been sold off, including [[New Broadcasting House (Manchester)|New Broadcasting House]] on [[Oxford Road, Manchester|Oxford Road]] in Manchester. Many major departments have been relocated to [[Broadcasting House]] in central London and [[MediaCityUK]] in Salford, particularly since the closure of BBC Television Centre in March 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/sep/21/bbc1-live-coronation-anniversary |title=BBC1 to go live for coronation anniversary night in 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171204061336/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/sep/21/bbc1-live-coronation-anniversary |archive-date=4 December 2017 |work=The Guardian |location= London |date=21 September 2010}}</ref> On 16 February 2016, the BBC Three television service was discontinued and replaced by a [[BBC Three (online)|digital outlet]] under the same name, targeting its young adult audience with web series and other content.<ref>{{cite web |last=Goodacre |first=Kate |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a775348/bbc-three-will-move-online-in-march-2016-as-bbc-trust-approves-plans-to-axe-broadcast-tv-channel/ |title=BBC Three will move online in March 2016 as BBC Trust approves plans to axe broadcast TV channel |website=Digital Spy |date=26 November 2015 |access-date=27 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229142035/http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a775348/bbc-three-will-move-online-in-march-2016-as-bbc-trust-approves-plans-to-axe-broadcast-tv-channel/ |archive-date=29 December 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35221706 |title=BBC Three reveals new logo and switchover date |work=BBC News |date=4 January 2016 |access-date=4 January 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160104173745/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35221706 |archive-date=4 January 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Under the new royal charter instituted in 2017, the corporation must publish an annual report to Ofcom, outlining its plans and public service obligations for the next year. In its 2017–18 report, released July 2017, the BBC announced plans to "re-invent" its output to better compete against commercial streaming services such as [[Netflix]]. These plans included increasing the diversity of its content on television and radio, a major increase in investments towards digital children's content, and plans to make larger investments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to "rise to the challenge of better reflecting and representing a changing UK".<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40489812 |title=BBC making £34m investment in children's services |date=4 July 2017 |work=BBC News |access-date=7 July 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170707051117/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40489812 |archive-date=7 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jul/04/bbc-promises-wider-mix-than-rivals-seeks-reinvent-itself |title=BBC promises a wider mix than rivals as it seeks to reinvent itself |last=Ruddick |first=Graham |date=4 July 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=7 July 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170707003420/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jul/04/bbc-promises-wider-mix-than-rivals-seeks-reinvent-itself |archive-date=7 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2017, the BBC has also funded the [[Local Democracy Reporting Service]], with up to 165 journalists employed by independent news organisations to report on [[Local government in the United Kingdom|local democracy]] issues on a [[News pool|pooled]] basis.<ref name="Linford">{{cite news |last1=Linford |first1=Paul |title=Local Democracy Reporting service 'has become template" says Davie – Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2021/news/local-democracy-reporting-service-has-become-template-says-bbc-dg/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=Hold the Front Page |archive-date=11 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811123633/https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2021/news/local-democracy-reporting-service-has-become-template-says-bbc-dg/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, the BBC Director General [[Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead|Tony Hall]] announced a savings target of £800&nbsp;million per year by 2021, which is about 23% of annual licence fee revenue. Having to take on the £700&nbsp;million cost for free TV licences for the over-75 pensioners, and rapid inflation in drama and sport coverage costs, was given as the reason. Duplication of management and content spending would be reduced, and there would be a review of [[BBC News]].<ref name=guardian-20160308>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/08/bbc-increases-saving-target-to-800m-a-year-to-pay-for-drama-and-sport |title=BBC increases savings target to £800m a year to pay for drama and sport |last=Martinson |first=Jane |newspaper=The Guardian |date=8 March 2016 |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=6 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106201125/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/08/bbc-increases-saving-target-to-800m-a-year-to-pay-for-drama-and-sport |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=forbes-20160511>{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2016/05/11/800-million-of-bbc-cuts-already-needed-not-even-close-tony-hall/ |title=£800 Million Of BBC Cuts Already Needed? Not Quite, Tony Hall |last=Midgley |first=Neil |newspaper=Forbes |date=11 May 2016 |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414034907/https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilmidgley/2016/05/11/800-million-of-bbc-cuts-already-needed-not-even-close-tony-hall/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 2019, the BBC launched the [[Trusted News Initiative]] to work with news and social media companies to combat [[disinformation]] about national elections.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mar |first=Leon |date=7 September 2019 |title=CBC/Radio-Canada joins global charter to fight disinformation |url=https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/media-centre/trusted-news-charter-fight-disinformation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811013231/https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/media-centre/trusted-news-charter-fight-disinformation |archive-date=11 August 2023 |access-date=15 October 2023 |website=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC/Radio-Canada]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=7 September 2019 |title=New collaboration steps up fight against disinformation |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/bbc.com/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/disinformation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015182650/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/disinformation |archive-date=15 October 2023 |access-date=15 October 2023 |website=BBC |language=en}}</ref>

In 2020, the BBC announced a BBC News savings target of £80&nbsp;million per year by 2022, involving about 520 staff reductions. The BBC's director of news and current affairs [[Fran Unsworth]] said there would be further moves toward digital broadcasting, in part to attract back a youth audience, and more pooling of reporters to stop separate teams covering the same news.<ref name="bbc-20200129">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51271168 |title=BBC News to close 450 posts as part of £80m savings drive |work=BBC News |date=29 January 2020 |access-date=14 December 2020 |archive-date=15 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215000003/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51271168 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guardian-20200715">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/15/bbc-announces-further-70-job-cuts-in-news-division |title=BBC announces further 70 job cuts in news division |last=Waterson |first=Jim |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 July 2020 |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101031912/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/15/bbc-announces-further-70-job-cuts-in-news-division |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2020, the BBC reported a £119&nbsp;million deficit because of delays to cost reduction plans, and the forthcoming ending of the remaining £253&nbsp;million funding towards pensioner licence fees would increase financial pressures.<ref name="ft-20200915">{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/d8e1911e-6233-4f2a-bc0b-7dfd97f9ff55 |title=BBC faces era of cuts after reporting 'substantial shortfall' |last=Barker |first=Alex |newspaper=Financial Times |url-access=subscription |date=15 September 2020 |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115035150/https://www.ft.com/content/d8e1911e-6233-4f2a-bc0b-7dfd97f9ff55 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 2021, it was reported that former banker [[Richard Sharp (BBC chairman)|Richard Sharp]] would succeed [[David Clementi]], as chairman, when he stepped down in February.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55560711|title=Former banker Richard Sharp to be next BBC chairman|work=BBC News|date=6 January 2021|access-date=6 January 2021|archive-date=30 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430014942/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55560711|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2023, the BBC was at the centre of a political row with football pundit [[Gary Lineker]], after he criticised the British government's asylum policy on social media. Lineker was suspended from his position on ''Match of the Day'' before being re-instated after receiving overwhelming support from his colleagues. The scandal was made worse due to the connections between BBC's chairman, Richard Sharp, and the Conservative Party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/26/labour-vows-to-secure-bbcs-independence-after-lineker-row|title=Labour vows to 'secure BBC's independence' after Lineker row|work=The Guardian|date=26 March 2023|access-date=26 March 2023|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326075100/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/26/labour-vows-to-secure-bbcs-independence-after-lineker-row|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 2023, Richard Sharp resigned as chairman after a report found he did not disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest in his role in the facilitation of a loan to Prime Minister [[Boris Johnson]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Richard Sharp resigns as BBC chairman after Boris Johnson £800,000 loan row |url=https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-chairman-richard-sharp-resigns-12832218 |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=Sky News |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428100244/https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-chairman-richard-sharp-resigns-12832218 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilkinson |first=Peter |date=28 April 2023 |title=BBC chairman resigns after controversy involving loan deal for former PM Boris Johnson {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/28/media/bbc-sharp-resigns-intl-gbr/index.html |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428121544/https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/28/media/bbc-sharp-resigns-intl-gbr/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dame [[Elan Closs Stephens]] was appointed as acting chairwoman on 27 June 2023, and she would lead the BBC board for a year or until a new permanent chair has been appointed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 June 2023 |title=Dame Elan Closs Stephens appointed acting BBC chairwoman |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65787514 |access-date=13 August 2023 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en |archive-date=19 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230619213010/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65787514 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Samir Shah]] was subsequently appointed with effect from 4 March 2024.<ref name=ShahAppointment>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/samir-shah |title=Dr Samir Shah CBE |publisher=BBC.com |accessdate=4 March 2024}}</ref>