Jasmine Directory

The United Kingdom is well-known for its broadcasting history. Its publicly funded radio, television and Internet Company, the BBC, begun its activity in 1922. BBC's media competitors are ITV plc and News Corporation, owner of the famous newspapers The Sun and The Times and a major part of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.

The most prolific cities in the national media industry are Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff, but without a doubt London holds 1st place in UK's media sector. Statistics show that in 2010 the UK was the country with the highest number of Internet users, while only 42% of the UK population is shown to read a daily national newspaper.

Cinema history was considerably influenced by the United Kingdom, as some of the worldwide critically acclaimed directors are British. Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean are only two of many British film directors that are legends in the movie industry.

The UK is also home to some of the greatest and internationally loved actors like Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Daniel Day-Lewis, Kate Winslet, Julie Andrews, Michael Cain or Richard Burton.

Even though many British producers, directors and actors are constantly involved in American and other European movies and despite the fact that a lot of US movies are based on British celebrities or events, the UK never fails to bring great value to its films.

The Ealing Studios is the oldest still up and running film studio in the world and some of the greatest film franchises of all time, like James Bond or Harry Potter, were produced in the UK.