NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bbc.co.uk

The domain name bbc.co.uk is the brand name in the United Kingdom for the online services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was introduced on 6 May 2004. Under its previous names, the BBC's online service first went live in 1994. As of 2004, the current controller is Tony Ageh. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 390 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (788 Ã— 1211 pixel, file size: 268 KB, MIME type: image/png) This image was captured by Wikiwoohoo on the 5th of July 2006 and is the BBC.co. ... // Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings: In popular usage, it is a widespread synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) â€” many popular and technical texts will use the term URL when referring to URI; Strictly, the idea of a uniform syntax for... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion. ... The term domain name has multiple related meanings: A name that identifies a computer or computers on the internet. ... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year (127th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tony Ageh is currently Controller, Internet for the BBC. He joined the BBC from the UK listings and information service UpMyStreet in 2002. ...

Formerly BBCi (still the brand for interactive TV services) and before that BBC Online, the Web-based service of the BBC is one of the world's largest and most visited web sites (twenty-first most visited according to Alexa on 16 March 2006 [1]). It currently contains over two million pages. BBCi is the brand name for the BBCs interactive television services. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (or the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ... A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of webpages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

History

The service's original home was www.bbcnc.org.uk (the "nc" standing for "networking club") launched on 13 April 1994. Within 12 months, the BBC offered "auntie" on-line discussion groups; web pages for select web-related programs and BBC departments; free web pages for associate members; and an internet connection service. www.bbc.co.uk [2] was launched in 1996 though the old address also remained active for some time afterwards. For a time, www.bbc.co.uk was used for the organisation's corporate and educational site, while entertainment-based content appeared on www.beeb.com. The two sites were merged c.1998 to become BBC Online [3] at www.bbc.co.uk. In 1999, the BBC bought the www.bbc.com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing [4], but the price of this purchase was not revealed [5] until 6 years later. As of 2005, www.bbcnc.org.uk no longer exists. The beeb.com address now redirects to the BBC Shop website run by BBC Worldwide, at www.bbcshop.com. April 13 is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. ...

Content

The websites include news from the BBC News website, an extensive sports section, music, science, technology and entertainment pages, among other things. As might be expected, the website has a decidedly British orientation, although the home page, news section and sports section each give the reader a choice between UK and "International" versions. BBC News Online logo The BBC News Website in February 2006. ...

In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams' previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and is now replacing all its existing message boards with the DNA software derived from that project. The site's Collective magazine also uses the DNA software. Douglas NoÃ«l Adams (11 March 1952 â€“ 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ... H2G2 is also an acronym for the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ... H2G2 is also an acronym for the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ... Collective is an interactive culture magazine hosted by the BBCs website, bbc. ...

Unusually for a high traffic website, bbc.co.uk has extensive technical information available about its operation. The BBC also makes some of the content on bbc.co.uk and the BBC News Website available in XML format on its developer network backstage.bbc.co.uk. Also, through participation in the Creative Archive Licence group, bbc.co.uk allows legal downloads of selected material via the internet. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language. ... backstage. ... The Creative Archive Licence logo. ...

Streaming media

The BBC Radio Player allows users to listen to most broadcasts from the BBC's various radio networks live, and for 7 days after they are broadcast, via streaming media; some video content is also streamed, particularly high-profile news and sport events. Initially streams were generally broadcast in the RealAudio and RealVideo formats controlled by RealNetworks and the BBC drew criticism with some for using those closed formats which, at the time, could only be played using RealPlayer. In response to such criticisms, the BBC negotiated a unique deal with RealNetworks to offer a player which didn't contain as much advertising and Real-related marketing, a 'cut-down' version of RealPlayer. BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. ... Streaming media is multimedia that is continuously received by, and normally displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. ... RealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks. ... RealVideo is a proprietary video format developed by RealNetworks. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... RealPlayer is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo codecs. ...

With the advent of the Helix Project, the Real format is playable on a wider range of platforms and devices: Windows, Mac OS X, various flavours of Linux and Unix, Windows Mobile, and many Symbian based handsets. Helix is an open multi-format digital media framework. ...

Windows Media has also been embraced and, as of Autumn 2006, is now available for all UK-domestic listeners to all national radio streams. Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. ...

More recently, the BBC has been experimenting with MP3 downloads and podcasting facilities for an increasing number of radio shows, with a high level of success; a less publicised trial of Ogg Vorbis streams for certain programmes was less successful, and has now been discontinued. A new system called the "iPlayer" is currently being developed and trialled, which uses peer-to-peer and DRM technology to allow users to download both radio and TV content, to be played within the software, which will automatically "expire" after 7 days. For LP MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular audio encoding format. ... Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. ... This page is about the audio compression codec. ... The correct title of this article is . ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term referring to technologies used by publishers or copyright owners to control access to or usage of digital data or hardware, and to restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work or device. ...

Funding

The BBC's site is entirely free from advertising. This is due to the BBC's funding, derived primarily from compulsory television licence fees from UK viewers. This has meant bbc.co.uk has sometimes caused some controversy, as web users outside the UK can use the services (including the entire BBC radio services) without having to pay for them. It has been suggested in the past that the BBC block users outside the UK, or that the BBC create a version of their site supported by adverts for such users. So far, such moves have been resisted; however, where rights to sporting events (such as certain football or cricket matches) do not include international online coverage, users from outside the UK are blocked from listening to commentaries. It is worth noting in defence of its open policy that the BBC's site is primarily hosted from two locations[6], New York and London. The London site is funded from the licence fee and the New York server is funded through a series of grants (similar to the BBC World Service) and not directly by the licence fee. However those grants do ultimately come from the British public. Commercialism redirects here. ... A television licence (or more correctly broadcast receiver licence, as it usually also pays for public radio) is an official licence required in many countries for all owners of television (and sometimes also radio) receivers. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Bowler Shaun Pollock bowls to batsman Michael Hussey. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 33 languages to many parts of the world. ...

Graf Report

In early 2004, the site was made the focus of a government review, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, led by Philip Graf. Sections of the UK internet industry had argued that the BBC site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.

The review was published in July 2004 and it was recommended that the BBC "prioritise news, current affairs, education and information which is of value to the citizen." In response the BBC also shut down a small number of sections of the site, including the popular Soaps section.

In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.co.uk as part of their response to the review. They also announced, as Graf had recommended, a new approach towards external providers which will see bbc.co.uk aiming to spend at least 25% of its eligible budget on content and services through independent commissions by the end of 2006/07.

The implementation of the Graf report has seen the popular messageboards in the BBC Sport section shut down, as the BBC tries to promote its 606 brand, but these changes have proved unpopular as the interface has proven unusable and large numbers of content providers have abandoned the BBC site.

Cult TV

From 1999 to 2005, the BBC ran a popular subsite called Cult TV. This subsite had news, star interviews, trivia, and other content popular with fans of the cult TV shows they covered. Examples of covered TV shows include Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion. ... Cult television, like cult figures, cult film and cult radio, attracts a band of aficionados or appreciators, known as a cult following, devoted to a specific television series or fictional universe. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and a 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC. The programme shows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a two-time Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American cult television series that initially aired from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. ... Farscape (1999â€“2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,[1] was a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adamss The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two. ...

On 15 July 2005, the BBC announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the Doctor Who section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC concern. The announcement explained that this was "part of the restructuring of the BBC's online activities". It was promised that some of the content was moved to new places on bbc.co.uk, although as of September 2005 it is currently still all online at the no-longer-updated Cult site. July 15 is the 196th day of the year (197th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion. ...

Children's

The BBC runs a comprehensive children's website subsite. It includes information on all of CBBC's shows along with several subsites covering art, sport, news, and other current events. Its message boards are especially popular with children who use them to communicate with each other about all of CBBC's output among other salient topics for kids like bullying, books, and personal problems. The "Your Life" [[7]] page is especially geared to helping young people sort through their difficulties. The members of the boards offer each other advice. Advice is also offered from a professional psychotherapist agony uncle called "Ask Aaron" whose answers can also be seen on interactive television through CBBC eXtra. The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GBÂ£4 billion. ...

There is good integration between television output and website content. The website is easily accessible and popular with children. Furthermore, interesting aspects of children's programming (like Newsround or Tracy Beaker) will often have followup information on their corresponding websites.

References

iMP (Integrated Media Player; also referred to as Interactive Media Player) is a computer program being developed by the BBC to replace and extend its existing RealPlayer-based Radio Player and other streamed content. ...

See also

Image File history File links Portal. ... BBC News Online logo The BBC News Website in February 2006. ...

External links

Categories: Wikipedia articles that should not have a capitalised title | BBC New Media | Broadcasting websites | British websites | Advertising-free websites | 1994 establishments BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. ... BBC Books is the book publishing division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... BBC Resources provides BBC Studios and Outside Broadcast facilities based in London UK, along with network Post Production facilities in England (ie excluding the other UK Nations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales). ... BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It has co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years and is now firmly established at the forefront of UK film-making; producing approximately eight films a year. ... This is a timeline of the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on October 18, 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. ... The Board of Governors of the BBC is a group of twelve people who together regulate the BBC and represent the interests of the public, in particular those of viewers and listeners. ... BBC Childrens is the name of the department within the BBC responsible for creating programming for children up to the age of 16. ... The BBC Monitoring divisions logo BBC Monitoring is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation that monitors the mass media worldwide and acts as the British Governments provider of open source intelligence (OSINT). ... The BBC natural history unit is a department of the BBC, dedicated to making programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme. ... The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... BBC Research, formerly the BBC Research Department or BBC Research & Development, made major contributions to broadcast technology, carrying out original research in many areas, and developing items like the Peak programme meter (PPM) which became the basis for many world standards. ... Since the 2005 relaunch, a new glass globe has been the logo for BBC Weather and is shown at the beginning and end of all weather forecasts. ... Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC in London, England. ... The portico of Bush House Bush House is a building between Aldwych and The Strand in London. ... The BBC New Media Village at Night, October 2004 The BBC Media Village was opened in 2004 and is the second phase of development at BBC White City. ... BBC Television Centre (sometimes abbreviated TVC or TC) in London is home to much of BBC television output and, since 1998, almost all of the corporations national TV and radio news output by BBC News. ... Categories: Stub | BBC ... In the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies, a television licence is required to receive any publically broadcast television service, from any source. ... The Broadcasting Receiving Licence of 10 shillings was introduced in November 1922 to cover existing BBC radio broadcasts, as well as television when the BBCs 405-line service commenced in November 1936 , although it closed down in September 1939 at the start of World War II. The Television Licence... The BBC Trust is the new body which will oversee the BBC. Along with an Executive Board, the Trust will take over the role of the current Board of Governors and be in place by the end of 2006. ... Sir Michael Lyons (born 1950), is a former councillor and council chief executive, who has also been involved in some of the key central government commissions and reports into local government finance from 2000 to 2007. ... Mark Thompson has been the BBC Director-General since May 2004. ... The Director-General is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC. The position is appointed by Board of Governors of the BBC. Sir John Reith (1927-1938) Sir Frederick Ogilvie (1938-1942) Sir Cecil Graves and Robert W. Foot (joint Director-Generals, 1942-1943) Robert W. Foot (1942... Mark Byford (born June 13, 1958) is Deputy Director General of the BBC and head of all its journalism. ...

Contents

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