BBC

===Charter and Agreement===
{{Main|BBC Charter}}
The BBC is a [[State media|state owned]] [[public broadcasting]] company and operates under a [[royal charter]]. The charter is the constitutional basis for the BBC, and sets out the BBC's Object, Mission and Public Purposes.<ref name="BBConCA">{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/charter | title=Charter and Agreement }}</ref> It emphasises [[public service]], (limited){{efn|The BBC itself wrote on the matter (in about 2005) that it can not "express its own editorial opinion about current affairs or matters of public policy", and that that "is not to say, of course, that controversial programmes are never broadcast, but great care is taken to ensure that arguments are well balanced."<ref name="BBCon">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/001108_wsfunding.shtml|title=The BBC on funding, and the charter.|work=BBC World Service}}</ref>}} [[editorial independence]], prohibits [[advertising]] on domestic services and proclaims the BBC is to "seek to avoid adverse impacts on competition which are not necessary for the effective fulfilment of the Mission and the promotion of the Public Purposes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how_we_govern/2016/charter.pdf|title=ECopy of Royal Charter for the continuance of the British Broadcasting Corporation|website=BBC|date=December 2016|access-date=16 February 2024}}</ref>

The charter also sets out that the BBC is subject to an additional 'Agreement' between it and the [[Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport|Culture Secretary]], and that its [[Broadcast license|operating licence]] is to be set by Ofcom, an external [[Regulatory agency|regulatory body]]. It used to be that the [[Home Secretary]] be departmental to both Agreement as well as Licence, and regulatory duties fall to the [[BBC Trust]], but the 2017 charter changed those 2007 arrangements.<ref name="bbchow">{{cite web|title=BBC World Service – Institutional – How is the World Service funded?|publisher=BBC World Service|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/institutional/2009/03/000000_funding.shtml|quote=The BBC, including World Service, operates under two constitutional documents – its Royal Charter and the Licence and Agreement. The Charter gives the Corporation legal existence, sets out its objectives and constitution, and also deals with such matters as advisory bodies. Under the Royal Charter, the BBC must obtain a licence from the Home Secretary. The Licence, which is coupled with an Agreement between the Minister and the Corporation, lays down the terms and conditions under which the BBC is allowed to broadcast.|access-date=20 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008072648/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/institutional/2009/03/000000_funding.shtml|archive-date=8 October 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

The charter, too, outlines the Corporation's governance and regulatory arrangements as a statutory corporation, including the role and composition of the BBC Board. The current Charter began on 1 January 2017 and ends on 31 December 2027; the Agreement being coterminous.<ref name="BBConCA" />