The BBC is forbidden under its charter to undertake any commercial operations on-air within the United Kingdom, however no such restriction applies to operations in other countries. There fore the BBC exploits its massive television archive by operating a number of commercial televesion channels outside the UK through its BBC Worldwide subsidiary. Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ... In the United Kingdom and Canada a Royal Charter is a charter granted by the Sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council, which creates or gives special status to an incorporated body. ... 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. ...

These services carry advertising and have regular commercial breaks because the British Television Licence Fee is not collected outside the UK. From the earliest days of the medium, television has been used as a vehicle for advertising in some countries. ... A television licence is an official licence required in some countries for all owners of a television receiver. ...

Some channels are wholly owned by BBC Worldwide, others are operated as Joint ventures with other broadcasters.

Wholly owned channels

• BBC America - US Market British Entertainment Channel
• BBC Prime - entertainment channel available in Europe, Africa, Middle East
• BBC World - formerly World Service Television
• BBC Japan - Japanese market British Entertainment Channel
• BBC Food - Southern Africa/Scandinavia

BBC America ID, 1999. ... BBC Prime is the BBCs general entertainment TV channel in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. ... BBC World News ident, currently used after relaunch in December 2003. ... BBC Japan is a television channel from the BBC available via satellite in Japan, which launched on December 1st, 2004. ... BBC Food is the BBC’s international commercial television channel all about food. ...

Joint Venures

With Alliance Atlantis

In Canada, channels are requires to have a certain percentage of original Canadian productions. The BBC's Canadian channels are operated in conjunction with Alliance Atlantis. Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis is a Toronto-based media company. ...

• BBC Canada - Canadian Market British Entertainment Channel
• BBC Kids - Canada-broadcast children's channel

BBC Canada is a general entertainment channel available on cable and satellite TV. It is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Canadian broadcaster, Alliance Atlantis, along with BBC Kids. ... BBC Kids is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Canadian broadcaster Alliance Atlantis, which airs British shows like Teletubbies, Top of the Pops and Canadian shows like the Magic School Bus, Polka Dot Shorts and Popular Mechanics for Kids. ...

With Discovery Channel

Note that Animal Planet is also available in the United Kingdom. Discovery Channel is an American cable TV network, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, that has a variety of science programming, particularly documentaries and nature shows. ...

• Animal Planet - Natural History documentaries
• People&Arts - Lifestyle and reality programming broadcast in Latin America/Iberia

Animal Planet, launched in 1996, is a cable television network dedicated to programming that highlights the relationship between animal and man. ...

With Foxtel and RTL

• UK·TV - General Entertainment available in Australia and New Zealand.

Foxtel is a cable television and satellite television company in Australia, formed through a joint venture between Telstra and News Corporation. ... RTL Group is Europes largest TV, radio and production company. ... UK.TV is a television network on cable and satellite in Australasia, showing the Best of British entertainment from the UK, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, Thames and ITV. It is a joint venture between Foxtel, BBC Worldwide, and Fremantle Media, who now own Thames and Grundy. ...

Other

BBC Worldwide also operate the UKTV network in the United Kingdom with Flextech One of the UKs largest TV companies, UKTV a joint venture between the BBCs commercial arm BBC Worldwide, and the cable television company Flextech. ... Flextech is a British television company. ...

External links

• TV Channels from BBC Worldwide's 2005 annual report