Last updated November 2005
Printable version
bbc.co.uk is the BBC's public service website offering over two million pages of information including news, sport, programme information, CBBC and CBeebies, lifestyle, music, education and much more.
Today some 13.2 million people in the UK visit bbc.co.uk, which was established back in 1994.
Key milestones
1994
The BBC began experimenting with the world wide web (www), starting with offering a selection of programme- related material on what was initially called The Networking club.
1997
The BBC started to create BBC Online which included BBC News material and a broader range of programming content.
1998
After overwhelming public support through consultation, the Government granted online consent.
1999
The website began to offer more than news material, introducing information on a range of subjects including drama, education and football and received over two million users each month.
2001
User figures had doubled, reaching up to 4.5 million people (27 per cent of the online universe).
2002
Visitors to the BBC's website were introduced to a new search engine – a unique facility that enabled people to search the BBC site and the world wide web for safe, advert free sites relevant to a UK audience.
Radio Player, the listen again service which enables visitors to catch up on their favourite radio programmes, was launched.
The site reached more than a third of the UK's online population – some 5.6 million users.
2003
After five years in operation, The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) announced plans for an independent review of the BBC's online services. Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State, announced that the review would be conducted by Philip Graf with the purpose of determining whether the website had complied with the terms of its original online consent, and to decide what its role within the BBC should be going forward.
The BBC launched iCan - a project that evolved out of the New Politics Initiative - offering a unique interactive community, through which individuals can make a difference in civic life. The project is now known as Action Network (see below).
The site facilitates e-democracy by encouraging networking and debate online by a wide variety of groups using the BBC as a trusted portal.
User figures continued to increase, reaching some 8.1 million people per month, or 41 per cent of the online universe.
2004
bbc.co.uk became the new name for the BBC's online service, after consumer research suggested that the BBCi brand was more closely aligned with interactive television. The name change also marked a new look homepage, designed to simplify navigation of the site.
The Graf Review reported back and found that bbc.co.uk had met the terms of its original consent, granted by the DCMS in 1998, and had provided an online service of high quality, creativity, innovation and impressive technical capability which was valued by the public.
Based on the huge success of Radio Player, bbc.co.uk began a limited technical trial of the integrated Media Player (iMP).
iMP offers UK viewers the chance to catch up on TV and radio programmes they may have missed for up to seven days after they have been broadcast, using the internet to legally download programmes to their home computers.
iMP uses peer to peer distribution technology (P2P) to legally distribute these programmes.
User figures reached an all-time monthly high of 10.35 million or 45 per cent of the UK internet population.
2005
BBC helped to launch the Creative Archive Licensing Group – a joint initiative between the BBC, Channel 4, the British Film Institute, Open University, the Community Channel and Teachers' TV as a means of offering legal downloads of selected material from the internet.
The Creative Archive Licensing Group launched the Creative Archive Licence, offering a revolutionary approach to the rights issues that often affect the use of archive material online.
The BBC introduced RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication), allowing individuals to subscribe to any number of feeds to view them either on their desktop or in browser-based News Readers.
The BBC launched a set of online Terms and Conditions which enable other websites to integrate RSS feeds from the BBC for free, and without offline contractual negotiation.
bbc.co.uk launched a pilot project called Backstage – a network aimed at the developer community to foster new talent and encourage innovation.
The site offers content feeds from bbc.co.uk and allows developers to use the material, on a non-commercial basis, to build their own applications and services, which can then be showcased on the site.
iCan changed its name to Action Network and underwent a redesign to make it even easier to use.
iMP public trial - running from September to December 2005 - will offer some 5,000 people from all over the UK access to around 500 hours of TV and radio programmes and will be used to assess the demand of particular types of programmes and determine whether iMP has an impact on the commercial market.
This will assist the BBC Governors in evaluating its public value.
bbc.co.uk is now accessed by over half the UK's internet population, some 13.2 million people (52 per cent of the UK online universe).
