bbc radio 1 and bbc radio 1xtra . for other uses see bbc disambiguation . bbc television service redirects here . for the bbc department see bbc television . bbc one launched 2 november 1936 ; 79 years ago 1936 11 02 1 owned by bbc picture format 16 9 576i sdtv 16 9 1080i hdtv audience share 24.78 % august 2016 2016 08 barb country united kingdom broadcast area united kingdom and crown dependencies formerly called bbc television service 2 november 1936 8 october 1960 bbc tv 8 october 1960 20 april 1964 bbc1 20 april 1964 3 october 1997 sister channel s bbc two bbc four bbc news bbc parliament cbbc cbeebies website www.bbc.co.uk bbcone availability terrestrial freeview channel 1 channel 101 hd digitenne netherlands channel 19 satellite freesat channel 101 sd england ; hd sco wal ni channel 108 sd sco wal ni ; hd england channels 950 967 972 973 976 978 regional variations sky uk channel 101 sd england ; hd sco wal ni channel 115 hd england channel 141 sd sco wal ni channels 951 968 976 979 regional variations sky ireland channel 115 sd hd channel 215 sd astra 2e 10773 h 22000 5 6 10788 v 22000 5 6 10803 h 22000 5 6 10818 v 22000 5 6 10847 v 23000 2 3 hd astra 2f 11024 h 23000 2 3 hd eutelsat 10a bfbs 8001 nss 12 bfbs 8101 nss 806 bfbs 8101 cable virgin media uk channel 101 channel 108 hd virgin media ireland channel 108 channel 139 hd ziggo netherlands channel 61 hd england channel 952 sd london numericable belgium channel 30 79 london channel 107 hd england naxoo switzerland channel 213 upc cablecom switzerland channel 155 wightfibre channel 1 telenet digital tv belgium channel 120 london channel 62 hd england iptv belgacom tv belgium channel 67 brussels channel 23 flanders channel 213 wallonia kpn netherlands channel 23 telfort netherlands channel 23 xs4all netherlands channel 23 streaming media bbc iplayer watch live uk only filmon watch live watch live north ireland watch live scotland watch live wales horizon go watch live ireland only horizon.tv netherlands only watch live switzerland only bbc one is the flagship television channel of the british broadcasting corporation in the united kingdom isle of man and channel islands . 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 . 2 it was renamed bbc tv in 1960 using this name until the launch of sister channel bbc2 in 1964 whereupon the bbc tv channel became known as bbc1 with the current spelling adopted in 1997 . the channel s annual budget for 2012 13 is 1.14 billion . 3 the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the bbc s other domestic television stations and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising . it is currently the most watched television channel in the united kingdom ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership itv . as of june 2013 update the channel controller for bbc one is charlotte moore who succeeded danny cohen initially as an acting controller from may 2013 . contents 1 history 1.1 early years and launching 1.2 creation of bbc one 1.3 michael grade era 1984 1987 1.4 1990s 1990 1999 1.5 2000s 2000 2010 1.6 the one to watch campaign 1.7 2010s 2010 present 2 other services 2.1 bbc one 1 2.2 bbc one hd 3 contemporary programming 4 presentation 4.1 regional variations 5 availability outside the uk 6 accessibility 7 controllers of bbc one 8 see also 9 notes and references 10 external links history edit early years and launching edit replica of an emitron camera used to make the earliest 405 line programmes broadcast on the channel main article bbc television the bbc began its own regular television programming from the basement of broadcasting house london on 22 august 1932 . the bbc television service officially began regular broadcasts on 2 november 1936 from a converted wing of the alexandra palace in london 4 on 1 september 1939 two days before britain declared war on germany the station was taken off air with little warning with one of the last programmes to be shown before the suspension of the service being a mickey mouse cartoon ; 5 the government was concerned that the vhf transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft homing in on london . bbc television returned on 7 june 1946 at 15 00 . jasmine bligh one of the original announcers made the first announcement saying good afternoon everybody . how are you do you remember me jasmine bligh . the mickey mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later . 6 creation of bbc one edit the bbc held a statutory monopoly on television broadcasting in the united kingdom until the first independent television station began to broadcast on 22 september 1955 when itv started broadcasting . the competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a large reduction in its audience . the 1962 pilkington report on the future of broadcasting noticed this and that itv lacked any serious programming . it therefore decided that britain s third television station should be awarded to the bbc . 7 the station renamed bbc tv in 1960 became bbc1 when bbc2 was launched on 20 april 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625 line image on uhf . the only way to receive all channels was to use a complex dual standard 405 and 625 line vhf and uhf receiver with both a vhf and a uhf aerial . old 405 line only sets became obsolete in 1985 when transmission in the standard ended although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect and restore such tvs . bbc1 was based at the purpose built bbc television centre at white city london between 1960 and 2013 . television news continued to use alexandra palace as its base by early 1968 it had even converted one of its studios to colour before moving to new purpose built facilities at television centre on 20 september 1969 . in the weeks leading up to 15 november 1969 bbc1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system to test it . at midnight on 15 november simultaneously with itv and two years after bbc2 bbc1 officially began 625 line pal colour programming on uhf with a broadcast of a concert by petula clark . 8 colour transmissions could be received in monochrome on monochrome 625 line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting . in terms of audience share the most successful period for bbc1 was under bryan cowgill between 1973 and 1977 when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45 % . 9 this period is still regarded by many as a golden age of the bbc s output with the bbc achieving a very high standard across its entire range of series serials plays light entertainment and documentaries . original research on 30 december 1980 the bbc announced their intention to also introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with tv am . bbc stated it would start broadcasting before tv am but made clear the bbc hands were tied until november 1981 when the new licence fee income became available to help finance extending broadcast hours with the hope of starting in 1982 . on 17 january 1983 the first breakfast time went on air proving the first uk wide breakfast television service 10 and continued to lead in the rating until 1984 . 11 12 michael grade era 1984 1987 edit in 1984 bill cotton become managing director of television at the bbc and set about overhauling bbc1 which had been slated for poor home grown shows its heavy reliance on us imports with dallas and the thorn birds being bbc1 s highest rated programmes and ratings being over 20 % behind itv . cotton recruited michael grade to become controller of bbc one the first time the corporation had recruited someone outside of the bbc 13 replacing alan hart who has been criticised for his lack of knowledge in general entertainment as he was head of bbc sport prior to 1981 . the first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular sixty minutes current affairs programme this was a replacement for the news and magazine show nationwide . its replacement was the bbc six o clock news 14 15 a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot . it was believed the bbc were planning to cut short the evening news and move more light entertainment programming in from the 18 20 slot but this was dismissed . the miss great britain contest was dropped being described as verging on the too offensive after the january 1985 contest with worlds strongest man and international superstar also being axed . 16 bbc1 was relaunched on 18 february 1985 with a new look new programming including wogan eastenders and a revised schedule to help streamline and maintain viewers throughout the course of the evening . grade started to gear most programmes to either on the hour or half past the hour while panorama and omnibus were both moved after the nine o clock news . 17 grade was also determined to end the dated and inept bbc1 scheduling which was hampering the network and which was holding back good programmes . grade stated when i took over bbc1 i discovered there were wonderful things it was just a case of where to put them . wogan had been scheduled for a 10pm slot but grade moved it to a 7pm slot as he believed the show had potential . 18 from february to august 1985 a high amount of american mini series were broadcast while filming took place of a number of new home grown programmes including allo allo in sickness and in health and open all hours . further improvement come about when the corporation strengthened its drama output costing 30 million with eight new series including howards way all creatures great and small hold the back page and bluebill along with the return of bergerac and big deal . the increase in the drama department was achieved by switching the money away from the administrative service over a three year period after bbc1 was criticised for failing in matching itv s output in drama . 19 eastenders was moved to a 7.30 pm slot where it managed to soar to 20 million helping the bbc1 audience share increase to nearly 50 % for the first time since 1982 . on 27 february 1985 doctor who was placed on an 18 month hiatus . the bbc originally planned to axe the series as they wished to spend its budgets on new programming for the channel but was forced to back down from public pressure and doctor who returned in september 1986 . at the time michael grade and jonathan powell were blamed for the decision grade was the target of death threats 18 but it was later revealed that the decision was taken due to the series running out of creative inspiration making it impossible to find anyone at the time who knew what to do with the series . 20 21 on 9 september 1985 the long standing children s programming block was overhauled and rebranded as children s bbc which give for the first time the children s block a dedicated idents and had live in vision presenter unlike children s itv . previously the bbc had broadcast children s programming using bbc1 s team of regular duty announcers . the launch presenter for this block and thus the first children s bbc presenter of the current format was phillip schofield . on 23 may 1986 long running lunchtime magazine show