BBC Parliament

BBC Parliament
TV station ( public service )
Program type	Division program
reception	Cable , satellite , DVB-T & Internet via live stream
Image resolution	( Entry missing )
Start of transmission	1992
Broadcaster	BBC
List of TV channels
Website

BBC Parliament is a British broadcaster owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation and specializes in the broadcast of political events. Parliamentary television programs include assemblies of the House of Commons and the House of Lords , the Northern Ireland Assembly , the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliaments, and the meetings of smaller committees. In addition, images from the European Parliament are also transmitted.

Before it was taken over by the BBC, the station was known as The Parliamentary Channel . At that time it had been in the hands of United Artists Cable since 1992 and was funded by a consortium of British cable operators. On September 23, 1998, the BBC bought the station and broadcast under the new name. Today the BBC Parliament can be received via cable, satellite and Freeview , the UK equivalent of DVB-T . BBC Parliament can also be received worldwide via a live stream on the Internet. The audio track could be received via DAB until November 14, 2000 .

Due to limited capacities in digital terrestrial television, BBC Parliament has only broadcast the audio track in this broadcast format from its start until October 30, 2008. After the advent of Freeview, the broadcast program had a picture, but it only took up a quarter of the screen. In response to violent protests, the BBC was able to provide enough bandwidth a short time later so that full screen was possible.

What is remarkable about BBC Parliament is that the material - in contrast to the other BBC stations - comes almost entirely from non-BBC productions and broadcasting systems. Important events and reporting are, however, in the hands of the BBC.

Web links

• Homepage of BBC Parliament
• BBC Parliament Livestream ( RealPlayer required; 0 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Press release on parliament.uk (accessed on January 23, 2008)
2. ↑ Tv & Radio Bits: Key Dates  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed January 23, 2008)  
3. ↑ BBC News: BBC Parliament goes full screen (accessed January 23, 2008)