The BBC is Britain’s main public radio and television company. It is paid for by the public, not by a private owner trying to sell the company itself. For a long time that has meant a licence fee on many households with a television, though the details of money and politics keep moving, and the BBC also earns in other ways around the world. It makes news, dramas, children’s shows, and radio, in Britain and far beyond. In many countries people meet it as BBC News or the World Service. The letters stand for British Broadcasting Corporation, but almost nobody says the long name in full; they just say the three letters. It is often treated as a careful, somewhat official voice — though actually, like any big newsroom, it has fans and critics, and it is not the only British broadcaster. Other groups use the letters BBC too, but in news and everyday English they almost always mean this company.