BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution.^] It was later renamed BBC tv until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon it was known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997.

The channel's annual budget for 2011/12 is £1,166.6 million.^[3] Along with the BBC's other domestic television stations, and many European broadcasters (and some in Asia), it is funded principally by the television licence fee, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming with no commercial advertising at any time. It is currently the most watched television channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership, ITV1.

The current channel controller for BBC One is Danny Cohen, formerly controller of BBC Three. Cohen replaced Jay Hunt following her departure from the BBC in late 2010 to join Channel 4, where she took up her position in January 2011.^[4] Jana Bennett, head of BBC Vision, took temporary control of BBC One between Hunt's departure and Cohen's appointment.^[5] Cohen briefly held controller positions of both BBC One and BBC Three until former ITV digital channels head Zai Bennett was confirmed as the new controller of BBC Three.

 Bairde transmission tower at Alexandriapalace from where BBC started transmitting.

Alexandra Palace was the home base of the channel until the early 1950s when the majority of production moved into Lime Grove Studios (closed 1991), then in 1960 to the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London, where the channel is still based.

 The 240-line Baird intermediate film system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system, each making the BBC the world's first regular high-definition television service, broadcasting Monday to Saturday from 15:00 to 16:00 and 21:00 to 22:00.

In 2010, the top five watched programmes, at their peaks, according to BARB were:^[25]

1. Doctor Who 16,410,000
2. World Cup 2010 England Vs Germany 15,810,000
3. Strictly Come Dancing 14,280,000
4. Come Fly With Me 12,470,000
5. Eastenders 12,110,000