British Broadcasting Company

British Broadcasting Company Limited
Company typePrivate company limited by shares
Founded18 October 1922; 102 years ago (1922-10-18)
Defunct1 January 1927; 97 years ago (1927-01-01)
(4 years, 2 months and 14 days)
FateLiquidation sale, re-established in 1927 as the non-commercial and crown-chartered British Broadcasting Corporation
SuccessorBBC
Headquarters

The British Broadcasting Company Limited (BBC) was a short-lived British commercial broadcasting company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the British General Post Office, its original office was located on the second floor of Magnet House, the GEC buildings in London and consisted of a room and a small antechamber.

On 14 December 1922, John Reith was hired to become the managing director of the company at that address. The company later moved its offices to the premises of the Marconi Company. The BBC as a commercial broadcasting company did not sell air time but it did carry a number of sponsored programmes paid for by British newspapers. On 31 December 1926, the company was dissolved and its assets were transferred to the non-commercial and crown-chartered British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).