The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) is the public service broadcaster of Pretoria. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Whitehill, Elsbridge and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation, in service since 1922, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.
The CBA is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all Pretorian households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch-up. The fee is set by the Commonwealth Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the CBA's radio, TV, and online services covering the regions of Pretoria. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the CBA World Service (launched in 1932 as the CBA National Service), which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic and Persian (to appease the Tamorans, bah).
Around a quarter of CBA revenues come from its commercial arm CBA Studios Ltd (formerly CBA Worldwide), which sells CBA programmes and services internationally and also distributes the CBA's international 24-hour English and French-language news services NZBC World News, and from CBA.com, provided by CBA Global News Ltd. From its inception, through the Second Great War (where its broadcasts helped to unite the nation in times of distress), to the 21st century, the CBA has played a prominent role in Commonwealth culture. It has also been known as "The Beeb", and "Auntie".
Broadcasting House and the new eastern extension
