Portal:BBC

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The BBC Portal

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the United Kingdom's oldest broadcasting organisation. Originally a radio broadcaster, the corporation began television broadcasts in the 1930s and now operates eight UK television channels including the oldest and most watched, BBC One. The BBC also operates 53 radio stations, including BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2; both have an online presence through bbc.co.uk. Internationally, the BBC name is used as a brand for several channels, operated by commercial arm BBC Worldwide. The BBC's journalism through BBC News has also developed a good reputation for news gathering and reporting through the years.

"Nation shall speak peace unto nation."
Motto of the BBC

Affectionate names for the BBC include auntie, the beeb and together, Auntie Beeb. This portal covers all aspects of the BBC.

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BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer (formerly known as iMP, Integrated Media Player, Interactive Media Player, or MyBBCPlayer) is a computer programme developed by the BBC to extend its existing RealPlayer-based "Radio Player" and other streamed video clip content. The service, which has been under development since 2003, left Beta and went live on December 25, 2007.

The original iMP service underwent a 5-month trial of 5000 broadband users, that began in October 2005 and finished on February 28, 2006. The technology and infrastructure is being provided by Kontiki, Siemens Business Services (formerly BBC Technology), and Red Bee Media (formerly BBC Broadcast).

The iPlayer received the approval of the BBC Trust on 30 April 2007, and an open beta for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 was launched at midnight on 27 July 2007, where it was announced that only a fixed number of people would be able to sign up for the service, with a controlled increase in users over the summer. The open beta incorporated a media player, an electronic programme guide (EPG) and specially designed download client, and will allow the download of TV content by computers assigned to a United Kingdom-based IP address, for use up to 30 days after broadcast. However, it was only available to users of Windows XP.

On 13 December 2007, the BBC launched the streaming version of the BBC iPlayer, based on Adobe Flash. The new streaming interface, available on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, provides access to up to 250 programmes from across the BBC; however, programmes can only be viewed for up to seven days, unlike the thirty days provided by the download service.

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A dramatized scene from the 2003 BBC/TVE dramatized documentary Pompeii: The Last Day, showing Mount Vesuvius erupting over Pompeii.

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Did you know...

...that the BBC ran a service that was known as Scud FM on Radio 4 FM's frequencies during the first Gulf War?
...that BBC Radio 5 Live replaced a station called BBC Radio 5 - a mixture of sports, news, children's programming and drama, broadcasting for about 18 hours per day, at 9am on August 27, 1990?
...that BBC Weather forecasts originally consisted of maps with weather symbols drawn on with wax crayons? Forecasts now are produced using complex computer programs.
...that BBC One receives an annual budget of £840m and makes an annual profit of £900m?
...that the first BBC News bulletin featured a newsreader providing a commentary for moving images since producers had felt a newsreader onscreen could distract viewers from the story?
...that BBC founder Lord Reith despised the concept of television and felt it would not last?
...that the BBC Television Service transmission was suspended during the Second World War due to fears the signal would be used by enemy bombers to locate targets?
...that prior to its launch BBC Two was promoted on the BBC Television Service channel, later to become BBC One? The animated adverts shown featured the campaign mascots "Hullabaloo" (a mother kangaroo) and "Custard" (her joey).

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Kate Silverton is a news presenter for the BBC, currently fronting the BBC One O'Clock News.

She was born to Terry and Patricia Silverton in 1970 and has an elder sister, Claire. She attended West Hatch High School in Essex, where she was a champion swimmer and where she first competed in the triathlon. She spent a year studying Arabic and Middle Eastern politics before switching and has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Durham.

Silverton then worked in finance before training with the BBC and then reporting and presenting at Tyne Tees Television.

Silverton appeared on The Wright Stuff, The Heaven and Earth Show and Weekend Breakfast on Radio Five Live, before joining BBC News 24 and BBC Breakfast in 2004.

In 2005, she drew media attention when her News 24 co-anchor Philip Hayton, a BBC employee for 37 years, resigned his position citing incompatibility with Silverton. The Daily Mirror quoted an 'insider' as saying that Silverton is "pushy beyond belief. Behind her big superficial smile she can be a really aggressive, manipulative monster who always gets what she wants."

Several figures spoke up for Silverton including fellow News 24 presenter Jon Sopel who said "She's warm and friendly. With Kate, what you see is what you get - she's bright, lively, talented and vivacious. I like and trust her. Yes, she's ambitious... but aren't we all?"

Rod Liddle, another of Silverton's former co-presenters said: "Kate is intelligent, attractive and has strong opinions. She is far cleverer than Hayton. There are plenty of very stupid women at the BBC but she isn’t one of them".

In December 2007, Kate was promoted to a more prominent position within BBC News as the presenter of BBC One's new 8pm bulletin, a 90 second round up of the news.

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Ashes to Ashes is the sequel to the popular 2006 series Life on Mars, currently being broadcast on BBC One. It is set in 1981, and stars Philip Glenister of Life on Mars as DCI Gene Hunt and Keeley Hawes as DI Alex Drake, who was shot in 2008, and found herself back in time.

Critical reception to the first episode of the series was mixed, with positive reviews from The Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman and negative reviews from The Times and The Observer. The Guardian reported that with 6.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share, the ratings for the second episode were down by almost one million on the first, though it still beat Trial & Retribution, which fell to a series low on ITV.

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The BBC in the news

A "limited number" of phone-in competitions are returning to the BBC five months after they were suspended by the corporation because of fakery incidents.

The corporation has announced some competitions will start returning in a phased manner from January 2008, beginning with 'Goal Of The Month' on Match Of The Day and 'Pop Master' on the Ken Bruce show on Radio 2.

The BBC has tightened up the rules on competitions after an audit revealed "serious breaches of editorial standards" on certain programmes. This includes a cap of 15p on the cost of premium-rate calls, excluding only charity programmes such as Children in Need. This does not allow programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing to charge extra even if this money would go to charity, and the corporation is investigating other ways of raising money for charity.

The new rules say competitions must have "very senior level prior approval" and be strictly supervised and planned.

A new code of conduct is also in place while thousands of production staff are taking a Safeguarding Trust training course.

Director General Mark Thompson said: "Trust in our integrity, our determination to deal fairly and honestly with our audiences, is the most precious thing the BBC possesses."

Competitions to return to BBC

2007 Phone-in Scandals

Previous news stories

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Quotes

"I got the first page with about three minutes to go. Then, the red light came on and it was up to me. It was an intensely dramatic script and most of the pages were fed to me at the microphone, so I had to get it right first time. God knows I put my heart into it." — Newsreader Robert Dougall, recalling his message as the 'anonymous Englishman', calling for Germany to withdraw its forces.

"... confronted with problems of which I had no experience: Copyright and performing rights; Marconi patents; associations of concert artists, authors, playwrights, composers, music publishers, theatre managers, wireless manufacturers." – John Reith (later Lord Reith)'s description of launching the BBC.