Harbeth at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Both throughout the UK and overseas in the World Service, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) have purchased and installed Harbeth speakers since 1977. The BBC comprises many business units, each self-accounting and free to employ people and technical resources as they choose according to their budget and needs. After the ending of a centrally imposed equipment mandate in the mid 1990's and the demise of Rogers, Harbeth developed into the primary long-term supplier of quality studio monitors across the BBC and took responsibility for servicing and maintaining their Rogers LS speakers. The number of installed Harbeths in the BBC has steadily increased in applications which were previously reserved for the BBC's own LS3/5a (Monitor 20), LS5/9 (Monitor 30) and LS5/8 (Monitor 40) monitor loudspeakers. The Harbeth sound is natural, neutral, uncoloured and extremely easy to work with for hours on end at a moderate listening level, just as were the BBC's own LS series speakers. Other monitors brands have different characteristics. As at January 2006, the BBC is Harbeth's biggest single UK customer and has the largest installed base of Monitor 40 (active and passive) in the world amongst hundreds of Monitor 20 and Monitor 30 (active and passive), Circle series designed by Harbeth and sold under the HHB brand and Harbeth LS3/5a. Orders are continuously received for BBC installation as the Harbeth application base within the BBC steadily expands. Product performance leads to recommendations and further sales. Harbeth's installed base in ITV (Granada-Yorkshire-Anglia) is increasing. During any one day, more than 20 million UK listeners and viewers are unwittingly hearing audio mastered on Harbeth speakers along with millions more overseas. For example, when a BBC announcer says that a Network radio programme - perhaps a drama or a concert - was made at BBC Bristol, BBC Cardiff, BBC Belfast, BBC Bangor or others it has been made on Monitor 40s. Likewise in television - countless BBC programmes from Eastenders* to Question of Sport are made on various Harbeths throughout the production. We have lost track of the total installed base now and the application to which they are put so it's always a treat to discover which programmes the Monitor 20/30/40 are used on.