Bbc Worldwide Case
BBC Worldwide: Global Strategy Case
Company Overview
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1922 by a group of radio manufacturers in order to popularize the new medium and create content for customers to listen to on their new devises. The organization grew as it developed a radio transmitter network and started looking at other media types. However, due to an issue of license fee collection, the BBC experienced heavy financial losses which caused the original radio manufacturers to pull out of the entity. To enable the entity to continue operating, a Royal Charter was created to fund the entity moving forward. BBC still operates under that charter which is reviewed every 10 years and the funding comes from a License Fee levied on all households that owned color TV’s.
In 1936 is started broadcasting television content and by the 1950’s it started licensing its programs to foreign broadcasters. What started as a “marketing” plan to encourage people to buy radios, grew into what we know today. The BBC operates eight digital TV networks in the U.K. and runs its bbc.co.uk website with 80 million unique users each month. They produce 30,000 hours of TV per year and manage a huge media library of over 750,000 hours of TV content and 3 million items in total. The Corporation also owns 50 radio stations, both local and national, and it employs 25,000 people. In order to licenses and distribute all this media around the globe, the BBC opened up a subsidiary named BBC Worldwide (BBC WW) in 1995.
BBC WW exploited and exported BBC-branded content around the globe through all formats, including magazines, television, books, DVDs, audiobooks, merchandise, mobile phones, downloads, and other emerging digital media. BBC WW delivered its profits back to the BBC. Since 2004, BBC WW profits had more than doubled from £37 million in FY2003–2004 to £89 million for FY2005–2006 on revenues of £657 million and £784 million, respectively.
Situation Analysis
Company Overview
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1922 by a group of radio manufacturers in order to popularize the new medium and create content for customers to listen to on their new devises. The organization grew as it developed a radio transmitter network and started looking at other media types. However, due to an issue of license fee collection, the BBC experienced heavy financial losses which caused the original radio manufacturers to pull out of the entity. To enable the entity to continue operating, a Royal Charter was created to fund the entity moving forward. BBC still operates under that charter which is reviewed every 10 years and the funding comes from a License Fee levied on all households that owned color TV’s.
In 1936 is started broadcasting television content and by the 1950’s it started licensing its programs to foreign broadcasters. What started as a “marketing” plan to encourage people to buy radios, grew into what we know today. The BBC operates eight digital TV networks in the U.K. and runs its bbc.co.uk website with 80 million unique users each month. They produce 30,000 hours of TV per year and manage a huge media library of over 750,000 hours of TV content and 3 million items in total. The Corporation also owns 50 radio stations, both local and national, and it employs 25,000 people. In order to licenses and distribute all this media around the globe, the BBC opened up a subsidiary named BBC Worldwide (BBC WW) in 1995.
BBC WW exploited and exported BBC-branded content around the globe through all formats, including magazines, television, books, DVDs, audiobooks, merchandise, mobile phones, downloads, and other emerging digital media. BBC WW delivered its profits back to the BBC. Since 2004, BBC WW profits had more than doubled from £37 million in FY2003–2004 to £89 million for FY2005–2006 on revenues of £657 million and £784 million, respectively.
Situation Analysis