2011 to present

Further cuts were announced on 6 October 2011, so the BBC could reach a total reduction in their budget of 20%, following the licence fee freeze in October 2010, which included cutting staff by 2,000 and sending a further 1,000 to the MediaCityUK development in Salford, with BBC Three moving online only in 2016, the sharing of more programmes between stations and channels, sharing of radio news bulletins, more repeats in schedules, including the whole of BBC Two daytime and for some original programming to be reduced. BBC HD was closed on 26 March 2013, and replaced with an HD simulcast of BBC Two; however, flagship programmes, other channels and full funding for CBBC and CBeebies would be retained.^[49][50][51] Numerous BBC facilities have been sold off, including New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in Manchester. Many major departments have been relocated to Broadcasting House and MediaCityUK, particularly since the closure of BBC Television Centre in March 2013. The cuts inspired campaigns, petitions and protests such as SaveBBC3 and SaveOurBBC, which have built a following of hundreds of thousands of individuals concerned about the changes.

Governance and corporate structure

The BBC is a statutory corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen by the BBC Trust (formerly the Board of Governors).^[52] General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General, appointed by the Trust, who is the BBC's Editor-in-Chief and chairs the Executive Board.^[53]

Charter

The BBC operates under a Royal Charter.^[9] The current Charter came into effect on 1 January 2017 and runs until 31 December 2026.^[54] Each successive Royal Charter is reviewed before a new one is granted, i.e. every 10 years.
The 2007 Charter specifies that the mission of the Corporation is to "inform, educate and entertain". It states that the Corporation exists to serve the public interest and to promote its public purposes: sustaining citizenship and civil society, promoting education and learning, stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television.
The 2007 Charter made the largest change in the governance of the Corporation since its inception. It abolished the sometimes controversial governing body, the Board of Governors, replacing it with the sometimes controversial BBC Trust and a formalised Executive Board.
Under the Royal Charter, the BBC must obtain a licence from the Home Secretary.^[55] This licence is accompanied by an agreement which sets the terms and conditions under which the BBC is allowed to broadcast.^[55] It was under this Licence and Agreement (and the Broadcasting Act 1981) that the Sinn Féin broadcast ban from 1988 to 1994 was implemented.^[56][57]