Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
BBC is mostly subsidized right, so no commercials?
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The BBC is almost entirely paid for through the "Television Licence". Any household in the UK that owns equipment capable of receiving live television programmes must pay an annual licence fee. It's currently £142.50, about $230.
Total BBC income for the year (2008/9) was £4.6 billion. The vast majority, £3.5 billion, is from the licence fee. The government pays the BBC around £295 million a year, almost entirely to cover the cost of the BBC World Service. The remaining income come from the BBC's commercial arm, about 775 million a year (from selling BBC programmes to other broadcasters, and DVDs, etc.)
And yes, this means that on BBC TV and radio there are no commcerials. Between programmes, the BBC often runs trailers for other programmes, but not in the middle of programmes. So when a programme is listed at running from 8pm to 9pm, it has very about 59 minutes of actual content.
Personally, I count the 40p (65¢ per day) to be very well worth it.