FAQs

Here at BBC Studios we love hearing what you think about our programmes, channels and services and receiving your enquiries. If you can’t find an answer here in our FAQs please send us details of your question or feedback and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Please bear in mind that sometimes it is necessary to make investigations before we can answer your feedback fully. Therefore, it may take us a little longer to provide you with a comprehensive answer. However all feedback, requesting a reply, is responded to within 10 working days.

The feedback we receive is added to a monthly report that is widely circulated within BBC Studios. So please get in touch and tell us what you think about our programmes, channels and services. For more information on how to contact us, please visit our Contact Page

Thank you for getting in touch with your interest in taking part in The Great South African Bake Off. We are not currently accepting applications for this show, but please keep an eye on our website for any further announcements about the show.

For general information, as well as advice and the latest vacancies, please visit BBC Studios Careers.

Many of the programmes you see on our channels are produced by independent production companies, and you may also like to get in touch with them directly. Production company details are widely available online.

BBC First is now available from midday until midnight (12:00 – 00:00), giving viewers even more premium British drama.

BBC First is available in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The decision regarding the availability of BBC First was taken by Multichoice’s Africa division.

For further information about your subscription or this decision you may like to contact DStv direct.

This was a decision taken by Multichoice’s Africa division.

It was felt that our other channels would have the strongest resonance with African audiences against healthy local competition.

For further information about your subscription or this decision you may like to contact DStv direct.

If you are experiencing technical problems with any of our channels, please contact your operator first. If they are unable to help, please get in touch with us. In order to investigate the problem for you fully, we will need details of the dates and times at which the problem occurred, the name of the programme and the channel you are watching.

BBC Earth and BBC First are broadcast in HD. Other channels are currently broadcast in SD, but we are always looking at ways to improve our services.

As some of our content was filmed in 4:3, these shows will remain in that format now that we have converted to widescreen, and may appear with black bars at the sides of the picture. This is so the content is not stretched or squashed.

If your satellite or cable receiver is connected to a widescreen television, we would recommend setting the output to widescreen/16:9 so that the picture is the correct shape without the appearance of being stretched horizontally or squashed vertically. If your satellite or cable receiver is connected to a 4:3 television, we would recommend setting the output to either ‘4:3 Centre Cut Out’ or ‘letterbox’ mode, which will ensure the picture is the correct shape with either the middle of the widescreen picture shown filling the non-widescreen television, or as a letterbox (black bars at top and bottom), allowing you to see all of the widescreen picture.

In addition, some television sets also have options to zoom or auto-stretch pictures. We recommend selection widescreen/16:9 for widescreen television sets to preserve the correct picture shape. You may choose to stretch or zoom that picture to fill the whole screen, according to your personal preference.

Whilst not all of the programmes you see on our channels are commercially available, you may like to check DVD availability with online or local retailers. It is not possible to order DVDs or programme merchandise directly from us.

Possibly, it depends on a number of factors, including copyright restrictions, but it is sometimes possible for legitimate academic establishments to obtain copies of programmes for educational use. For more information, please contact BBC Studios Learning

We do not currently offer online viewing or streaming services directly to viewers, but you may like to contact our distribution partner in Africa, DStv, to discuss how you can recieve our channels.

For information about licensing clips from BBC programmes please refer to the BBC Motion Gallery

Much of the content on the bbc.co.uk website is aimed at UK users, so we negotiate rights to include video, audio, images and other types of content for the UK only. World rights are much more expensive, but we are hoping to make more audio and visual content available to our international audiences.