Quiz Of The Week: Tech At The BBC

With its Reithian dedication to public service, the BBC has both pioneered and presented the leading edge of technology sinces its foundation in 1922. Our quiz tests your knowledge of the Corporation.

When the BBC was founded, radio was new, and it quickly adopted TV, which reached a widespread public in outrside broadcasts such as the 1952 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. As media has developed, the BBC has continued to move with the times, and sometimes get ahead of them.

Time travel

The time-travelling Tardis from Doctor Who has yet to be produced in reality, and nor have the Infinite Improbability Drive or Babel Fish, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. But some of the BBC’s own work has seemed equally scienc-fictional when it appeared.

This week, the BBC faced a website overload – or was it a DDOS attack? It’s also been testing out IP broadcasting at major sporting events.

It faces political tension: as a global media player, it competes in areas where advertising is the norm, and is funded by a levy on TV users in the UK. Yet on any objective measure it is succeeding: it costs less to run than broadcasters that only operate in a single medium and preduce mush less (and arguably lower-grade) content.

We salute the BBC, and its tech presence.

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