BBC One

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BBC One
Launched	2 November 1936
Owned by	BBC
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 16:9
Audience share	22.2% (May 2007, [2])
Country	United Kingdom
Formerly called	The BBC Television Service until April 1964
Sister channel(s)	BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four
Website	Official website
Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue	Normally tuned to 1
Freeview	Channel 1
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 101 and BBC UK regional TV on satellite
Sky Digital (ROI)	Channel 141
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 101
Tiscali TV	Channel 1
UPC Ireland	Channel 108

BBC One is the primary television channel of the BBC, and the first in the United Kingdom. The channel has an annual budget of £840 million,^[1] funded entirely by the television licence fee, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming and no commercial advertising. The British Broadcasting Corporation on 2 November 1936 launched the world's first regular public high definition (405-line) television service, following low definition BBC television broadcasts that began in 1929.^[2]

The station held a monopoly on television broadcasting in the United Kingdom until the first ITV station was launched in 1955. The competition quickly forced the channel to change from Auntie Beeb as the audience had vanished overnight. By the 1980s, the channel had the first breakfast programmes and returned to form under Michael Grade.

Since multichannel television launched, BBC One's share of viewing has declined, but not as fast as ITV which led to the channel once again becoming the most watched in the last decade.

The channel has had a diverse range of identities and priorities over the years and is currently 'Channel of the Year'.^[3]

[edit] History

[edit] The early years

The transmission mast above the BBC wing of Alexandra Palace, home of BBC One from 1936 until the early 1950s, photographed in 2001.

An Emitron camera, of the type used to make the earliest 405-line programmes broadcast on the channel. This particular example is a dummy constructed for the 1986 BBC drama Fools On The Hill, which depicted the early days of the station.

Baird Television made Britain's first television broadcast on 30 September 1929 from its studio in Long Acre, London via the BBC's London transmitter, using the electromechanical system pioneered by John Logie Baird. This system used a vertically-scanned image of 30 lines — just enough resolution for a close-up of one person, and with a bandwidth low enough to use existing radio transmitters. Simultaneous transmission of sound and picture was achieved on 30 March 1930, by using the BBC's new twin transmitter at Brookmans Park. By late 1930, thirty minutes of morning programmes were broadcast Monday to Friday, and thirty minutes of evening programmes were broadcast at midnight on Tuesdays and Fridays after BBC radio went off the air. Baird broadcasts via the BBC continued until June 1932.

The BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London on 22 August 1932. The studio moved to expanded quarters at 16 Portland Place, London, in February 1934, and continued broadcasting the 30-line images, carried by telephone line to the medium wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, until 11 September 1935, by which time advances in all-electronic television systems made the electromechanical broadcasts obsolete.

After a series of test transmissions and special broadcasts that began in August, regular BBC television broadcasts officially resumed on 2 November 1936, from a converted wing of Alexandra Palace in London, housing two studios, various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms, offices, and even the transmitter itself, now broadcasting on the VHF band. BBC television initially used two systems, on alternate weeks: the 240-line Baird system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system, each making the BBC the world's first regular high-definition television service. The two systems were to run on a trial basis for six months. However, the Baird system, which used a mechanical camera for filmed programming and Farnsworth image dissector cameras for live programming, proved too cumbersome and visually inferior, and was dropped in February 1937.

Initially, the station's range was officially only within a twenty-five mile (40 km) radius of the Alexandra Palace transmitter—in practice, however, transmissions could be picked up a good deal further away, and on one occasion in 1938 were picked up by engineers at RCA in New York, who were experimenting with a British television set.^[4]

[edit] Wartime closure

On 1 September 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany, the station was unceremoniously taken off air with little warning^[5]. It was feared that the VHF transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft homing in on London. Also, many of the television service's technical staff and engineers would be needed for the war effort, in particular on the RADAR programme. The last programme aired was a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Premiere. According to figures from England's Radio Manufacturers Association, 18,999 television sets had been manufactured from 1936 to September 1939, when production was halted by the war.

[edit] Postwar

BBC television returned on 7 June 1946 at 3pm. Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement saying, 'Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?' The Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later.^[6]

Postwar broadcast coverage extended to Birmingham in 1949 with the opening of the Sutton Coldfield television transmitter, and by the early 1950s the entire country was covered.

Alexandra Palace was the home base of the channel until the early 1950s when the majority of production moved to the Lime Grove Studios, and then in 1960 the headquarters moved to the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, also in London, where the channel is based to this day.

[edit] Competition

The arrival of ITV in 1955 saw the BBC Television Service's viewers fall by more than half. The BBC was forced to review it patrician output ('Aunty BBC' was a common and accurate description).

The station was renamed BBC1 when BBC2 was launched in April 1964. On 15 November 1969, simultaneous with ITV and two years after BBC2, the channel began 625-line PAL colour programming. Stereo audio transmissions began in 1988 (NICAM), and wide-screen programming was introduced on digital platforms in 1998. However, many of these developments took some years to become available on all transmitters.

[edit] Programming

BBC One aims to be the UK’s most valued television channel, with the broadest range of quality programmes of any UK mainstream network. The channel is committed to widening the appeal of all genres by making a range of subjects accessible to a broad audience. BBC One is committed to covering national and international sports events and issues, showcasing landmark programmes and exploring new ways of presenting specialist subjects.

– BBC One remit

Only 8.9%^[1] of the peak programming is repeats (30.8% is repeats overall) with a peak target of 5% in 2008/2009. Programming on this channel costs an average of £162,900 per hour.

With a mission to provide big programmes for all licence-fee payers, it has the main sport, news, current affairs and documentaries. It has historically broadcast children's programmes (now taken from CBBC and CBeebies). The channel remains one of the principal television channels in the United Kingdom and provides 2,508 annual hours of news and weather, 1,880 hours of factual and learning, 1,036 hours of drama, 672 hours of children's, 670 hours of sport, 654 hours of film, 433 hours of entertainment, 159 hours of current affairs, 92 hours of religion and 82 hours of music and arts.^[7]

[edit] News and current affairs

Main article: BBC News

2,508 annual hours of news and weather (293 in peak, 1,049 of BBC News 24 simulcasts) are provided by regular news programmes are BBC Breakfast, the One O'Clock News, Six O'Clock News and the Ten O'Clock News (the most-watched UK news programme), each including BBC regional news programmes. The station has broadcast continuously since 1997, simulcasting BBC News 24 from the early hours in the morning until 6:00am.

Each year 159 hours of current affairs programmes are broadcast on BBC One, including Panorama and Watchdog. Politics is also covered, with programmes such as Question Time and This Week. Crimewatch UK, a special programme appealing for help in unsolved crimes, is also frequently broadcast.

[edit] Factual and learning

Whilst nature documentaries such as Planet Earth are the most familiar part of the 1,880 annual BBC One hours of factual and learning, this also includes lifestyle-format daytime programmes and a number of reality TV formats and the One Life strand.

[edit] Drama

BBC One is the BBC's home of drama, with 1,036 hours each year. There are several half-hour episodes of EastEnders each week, plus hospital dramas Casualty and Holby City. In recent years the BBC's innovative dramas such as Spooks, Judge John Deed, Hustle and time-travel police drama Life on Mars have led ITV in the ratings. Also included in the twenty weekly hours of new drama is its highly successful programme, Doctor Who.

[edit] Children's

Because there are many homes that do not yet have access to digital television channels CBeebies and CBBC, BBC One still broadcasts 672 hours of children's programmes each year - over two hours each day - mostly during the late afternoon. It is expected these programmes will migrate to the digital channels by 2013.

[edit] Sport

The BBC holds rights to many sporting events, and BBC One broadcasts 670 hours of sport each year. This includes Premiership Football highlights as Match of the Day, tennis from Wimbledon, horse racing such as the Grand National, the London Marathon, the Olympic Games, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker tournaments, and international athletics.

[edit] Film

British, US and international films are broadcast for 654 hours each year on BBC One. This is mainly late-night fillers with some box office hits at Christmas and holiday periods.

[edit] Entertainment

433 hours of entertainment are broadcast by BBC One each year. There are over eight hours each week of game shows (mostly related to the National Lottery),^{[citation needed]} quiz shows like Have I Got News for You, and several talent shows such as How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and chat shows such as Friday Night with Johnathan Ross.

[edit] Religion

The annual 92 hours of religion comprises mainly of weekly editions of recorded "Songs of Praise" Christian services and Sunday morning Christian Heaven and Earth with Gloria Hunniford.

[edit] Music and arts

As the weekly popular music chart programme Top of the Pops was axed, BBC One now broadcasts only 82 hours of music and arts each year. The majority of this is the Alan Yentob fronted Imagine and classical music concerts such as the BBC Proms.

[edit] Daytime

Daytime programming (from 9.15am) is a mix of lifestyle and politics shows and some soaps Neighbours and Doctors. From 3.25pm until 5.35pm, normal broadcasting is suspended in order for a special CBBC broadcasting strand, with its own visual identity.

[edit] Quotas

28%^[1] of "qualifying hours" are made by independent production companies (statutory target is 25%). 99% of peak hours programmes are original productions (target 90%), as are 82% of all hours (target 70%)^[1].

Some of the most popular programmes such as Match of the Day, Have I Got News For You, The Kumars at No. 42, and The Apprentice have migrated to BBC One from other BBC channels.

[edit] Productions

For the first half-century of its existence, with the exception of films and imported programmes from countries such as the United States and Australia, almost all the channel's output was produced by the BBC's in-house production departments. This changed following the Broadcasting Act 1990, which required that 25% of the BBC's television output be out-sourced to independent production companies. As of 2004 many popular BBC One shows are made for the channel by independents, but the in-house production departments continue to contribute heavily to the schedule.

[edit] Network variations

An example of the BBC One Scotland variation on the current national theme.

To reflect the countries within the United Kingdom that the channel is available in, BBC One has individual continuity and opt-outs for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The channel's visual identity is largely the same as the version used in England, save for the inclusion of the country name below the main BBC One logo.

In the English regions,^[8] the BBC has regional news and current affairs programme opt-outs as well as a limited amount of continuity for the English regions. During such regional opt-outs, the region name is displayed as with the national variations, in smaller characters beneath the main channel logo. A generic news programme, UK Today, available mainly to digital viewers but also shown in the case of problems with regional news programmes was discontinued in 2002. This was replaced by transmission of BBC London News, since digital viewers are now able to receive regional programming.

BBC One Scotland has undoubtedly the greatest level of variation from the generic network, owing to BBC Scotland scheduling Scottish programming on the main BBC Scotland channel, rather than on BBC Two. BBC One Scotland variations include the soap opera River City and the football programme Sportscene, the inclusion of which causes network programming to be displaced or replaced.

BBC One Wales was considered a separate channel by the BBC upon its launch in the mid-1960s, appearing as "BBC Wales" (without the "1")^[9]

[edit] Presentation

Main article: History of BBC television idents

BBC One's identity has been symbolised by a globe for most of its existence^[10]. Originally in 1962 this was represented as a map of the UK shown between programmes, but in 1963 the globe first appeared, changing in style and appearance over the next 39 years.

• From 15 November 1969 it became a 'mirror-globe' in several colours and sizes (a globe in front of a curved mirror which reflected a distorted view of the reverse).
• On 18 February 1985 the COW (Computer Originated World) debuted. This was a computer-animated globe with the land coloured gold and the sea a transparent blue, giving the impression of a glass globe.
• On 16 February 1991 on the same day that BBC2 rebranded, an ethereal crystal-ball-type globe appeared, which was played out on air from laserdisc.
• On 4 October 1997 the revolving aspect disappeared as the globe became a red, orange and yellow hot-air balloon, coloured to resemble a globe, flying around various places in the UK.
• On 29 March 2002 the globe finally disappeared from television screens, to be replaced by a series of idents consisting of people dancing in various styles (see BBC 'Rhythm & Movement' idents).
• On 7 October 2006 at 10:00 BST, the new set of idents are based on circles (see BBC One 'Circle' idents). According to the BBC, the circle symbol both represents togetherness and acts as a nod to the former globe idents.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

BBC Portal

• Oldest television station
• List of television programmes broadcast by the BBC

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BARB UK TV weekly viewing share 1992-2007 ¹

These figures are updated weekly and show for comparison the viewing share of various channels, either since the channel launched or since BARB was created (January 1992). The first row shows the BBC television channels, the second those from ITV Network, the third those from Channel 4, the next from Five and UKTV and the final row those from BSkyB.

This represents the majority of the first-run television and those channels carried by digital satellite, cable and Freeview.

BBC One share 1992-2007	BBC Two share 1992-2007	BBC Three share 2003-2007	BBC Four share 2002-2007	ITV Network share 1992-2007
ITV2 share 2000-2007	ITV3 share 2004-2007	ITV4 share 2005-2007	Channel 4 share 1992-2007	E4 share 2001-2007
Film4 share 1998-2007	More4 share 2005-2007	Five share 1997-2007	UKTV Gold share 1992-2007	UKTV History share 2002-2007
BSkyB share 1995-2007	Sky One share 1992-2007	Sky Three share 2005-2007	Sky Movies share 2000-2007	Sky Sports share 2000-2007

¹ figures from BARB, updated to 17 May 2007