Finance and Revenue..

The BBC has the largest budget of any UK broadcaster with an operating expenditure of £4 billion in 2005 compared to £3.2 billion for British Sky Broadcasting and £1.7 billion for ITV.

The funding the BBC is through the television licence, costing £11.37 a month. Such a licence is required to operate a broadcast television receiver within the UK. The cost of a television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law. The revenue is collected privately and is paid into the central government Consolidated Fund, a process defined in the Communications Act 2003. Funds are then allocated by the DCMS and Treasury and approved by Parliament via the Appropriation Act(s). Additional revenues are paid by the Department for Work and Pensions to compensate for subsidised licences for over-75s. As the state controls BBC's funding, it is sometimes referred to as a "state" broadcaster.

According to the BBC's 2005-2006 Annual Report, its income can be broken down as follows:
£3,100.6 m licence fees collected from consumers.
£620.0 m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
£260.2 m from the World Service, of which £239.1 m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £15.8 m from subscriptions, and £5.3 m from other sources.
£24.2 m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters and concert ticket sales.