United Kingdom profile - Media
The UK has a strong tradition of public service broadcasting and an international reputation for creative programme-making.
The fledgling BBC began daily radio broadcasts in 1922 and quickly came to play a pivotal role in national life. The Empire Service - the forerunner of the BBC World Service - established a reputation worldwide. The BBC is funded by a licence fee, which all households with a TV set must pay.
Commercial TV began in 1955 with the launch of ITV. Commercial radio arrived in the 1970s, although ship-based stations flourished in the 1960s before being outlawed. Hundreds of privately-owned radio and TV stations now compete with the BBC for listeners and viewers.
Home-grown soaps top the TV ratings, and many British viewers follow the ups and downs of life in East London's Albert Square, the setting for the BBC's EastEnders, and Coronation Street - ITV's soap about northern English working-class life. Reality TV shows attract large audiences.
Once-dominant terrestrial TV networks face strong competition from digital satellite and cable, which offer hundreds of channels, and digital terrestrial TV (DTT), which carries a smaller number of mainly free-to-air channels. Terrestrial digital radio (DAB) has had a slower start.
The media are free and able to report on all aspects of British life. The variety of publications reflects the full spectrum of political opinion. In recent years, printed newspaper circulations have been sliding while online readership has surged.
News Corp, owner of The Times through its News UK subsidiary, has spearheaded attempts to make money from online content by charging readers for access.
In 2012, a judge-led inquiry recommended a new system of self-regulation for the press, backed by legislation. The inquiry followed a phone-hacking scandal at a News Corp title.
Politicians agreed to set up a new watchdog with powers to impose heavy fines and force newspapers to publish corrections. In 2013, the new system was backed by a Royal Charter, rather than by law.
But the industry objected and said the Royal Charter plan would give politicians too much power. Most publishers have stayed outside the new system.
There were more than 60 million internet users in the UK by 2016, nearly 93% of the population (Internetlivestats).
The internet accounts for 12.4% of the UK's gross domestic product (GDP), the Boston Consulting Group reported in 2016.
Around 64% of British people have an active social media account (We Are Social, 2017). Facebook is the leading platform.
The BBC is Britain's most popular online news destination.
- The Daily Telegraph - broadsheet
- Financial Times - daily, business
- The Guardian - daily, former broadsheet
- The Independent - online-only, former broadsheet
- The Times - daily, former broadsheet
- The Sun - daily tabloid
- The Mirror - daily tabloid
- The Daily Mail - tabloid
- The Daily Express - daily tabloid
- The Scotsman - Scottish daily
- Western Mail - Welsh daily
- BBC TV - operates BBC1, BBC2 and digital services including BBC News channel
- BBC World News - commercially-funded international news channel
- ITV - major commercial network, organised around regional franchises
- Channel 4 - commercially funded but publicly owned national station
- Channel 5 - national commercial channel
- Independent Television News (ITN) - supplier of news to ITV, Channel 4 and other outlets
- Sky - operator of digital satellite platform, Sky, and provider of film, entertainment channels and Sky News
- BBC Radio - national services include new-music station Radio 1, adult music station Radio 2, cultural network Radio 3, flagship speech station Radio 4 and news and sport station Five Live
- BBC Radio Scotland
- BBC Radio nan Gaidheal - Gaelic-language station for Scotland
- BBC Radio Ulster - for Northern Ireland
- BBC Radio Wales
- BBC Radio Cymru - Welsh-language
- BBC Asian Network - for Asian communities in the UK
- BBC World Service - major international broadcaster, heard worldwide via shortwave and increasingly on FM relays, programmes in more than 30 languages
- Absolute Radio - national commercial pop and rock station
- Talk Sport - national commercial sports station
- Classic FM - national commercial classical music station