Finance

Finance

The BBC has the largest budget of any UK broadcaster with an operating expenditure of £4.3 billion in 2007 compared to £3.8 billion for British Sky Broadcasting,£1.9 billion for ITV and £214 million in 2007 for GCap Media (the largest commercial radio broadcaster.

funding for the BBC is done through the television licence, costing £139.50 a year. licences are required to own a broadcastin TV in the UK . The cost of a television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law. The revenue is collected privately and is paid into the central government Consolidated Fund, a process defined in the Communications Act 2003.

According to the BBC's 2005-2006 Annual Report, its income can be broken down as follows:

£3,100.6 m licence fees collected from householders.
£620.0 m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
£260.2 m from the World Service, of which £239.1 m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £15.8 m from subscriptions, and £5.3 m from other sources.
£24.2 m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters and concert ticket sales.