On November 2nd of this year, the British Broadcasting System celebrated the 75th anniversary of the world’s first regular television broadcast. On its inaugural broadcast, the BBC featured a concert of the BBC symphony orchestra for an audience of but 400 people. It was thus that the pioneering arm of the British government began a new era.
Since then, with the exception of a halt during the Second World War, the BBC has reached the homes of Britain with an uninterrupted stream of information and entertainment that has become a very particular kind of television.
Since the inaugural broadcast, other programs have left a tremendous impression on broadcasting and introduced a quotient of learning to entertainment. Among the series that have marked the BBC are I, Claudius, Pride and Prejudice, and the Planet Earth documentaries hosted by Sir David Attenborough. The BBC ‘Panorama’ news program is the oldest of its type anywhere, having started in 1953.
While the BBC remains one of the most respected British institutions, the private ITV was launched in 1955 and has garnered 20 percent of the British audience.
The BBC has evolved since its beginnings at the dawn of television and now has 25, 000 employees on its two broadcast stations and another six digital. There is also BBC World News, its 24 hour news channel broadcast outside of the UK. The BBC is funded by subscribers who pay £146 (€170 or US$231) per month.
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