28 Facts About BBC Online

1.

The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web-only initiatives since April 1994, but did not launch officially until 28 April 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right.

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2.

BBC Online Multimedia Centre was a team led by Martin Freeth to introduce new media across the corporation.

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3.

Later, BBC Online launched licence-fee funded web sites for Top of the Pops and Top Gear, resulting in some duplication.

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4.

In 2001, BBC Online was rebranded as BBCi; the website launched on 7 November 2001.

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5.

The widget-based design was inspired by sites such as Facebook and iGoogle, and allowed the BBC Online to add new content to the homepage while still retaining users' customisations.

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6.

The new BBC Online homepage left beta on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 to serve as the new BBC Online Homepage under the same URL as the previous version.

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7.

On 21 September 2011, a new BBC Online homepage went into beta testing that was drastically different from those before it.

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8.

BBC Online contains a variety of content ranging from News, Sport, Music, Science, Technology and Entertainment, amongst other things.

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9.

One of the most used aspects of the BBC Online website are the sections relating to News content, Sports results and news and Weather forecasts.

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10.

The site contains journalistic content from the BBC Online covering news from the UK, both as a whole as well as regional news from the BBC Online Nations and Regions, and International content.

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11.

BBC Programmes is a service of BBC Online which provides a page for every television and radio programme broadcast by the BBC in the United Kingdom.

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12.

BBC Online Sounds is an internet streaming, catchup, radio and Podcast service from the BBC Online.

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13.

BBC Online operates numerous sub sites that focus on different topics and subjects to expand the knowledge of the reader.

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14.

Until 2013, the BBC Online hosted a health website with detailed information, checked by professionals, of medical conditions and symptoms.

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15.

However, the BBC Online withdrew the site as this service is available from other sources on the Internet which did not exist when the Health site launched, the most prominent of which is NHS Choices.

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16.

BBC Online previously ran a page to help young people sort out their life difficulties entitled "Your Life".

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17.

An international BBC Online subsite named "BBC Online Britain" is only available to users with IP addresses outside the UK.

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18.

On 15 July 2005, the BBC Online announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the Doctor Who section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC Online concern.

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19.

Democracy Live was a subsite of the BBC Online that contains live streams and recorded programmes from deciding bodies that affect the UK.

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20.

BBC Online's site was initially entirely free from advertising, this was due to the BBC Online's funding, derived primarily from compulsory television licence fees from UK viewers.

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21.

In 2006, the BBC began making controversial plans to raise revenue by including advertising on the international version of BBC News Online accessed from outside the United Kingdom.

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22.

The BBC Online Trust approved the plans for introducing advertisements which involved creating bbc.

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23.

Service, called BBC Online iPlayer, was launched in December 2007, which allows users to download both radio and TV content for up to seven days after broadcast.

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24.

In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams' previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and eventually replaced all its existing message boards, which used an archaic system called Howerd, with the DNA software derived from that project.

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25.

BBC Online uses several third-party companies to log information from users, by means of cookies.

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26.

In March 2007, a vulnerability was exposed in the BBC Online's "Most Emailed" and "Most Read" news sections which could allow for the popularity of a news article to be exaggerated and thus highlight it to other website visitors.

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27.

Sections of the UK Internet industry had argued that the BBC Online site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.

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28.

In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC Online announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.

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