Channel 4 is a public-service television an radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom, centred around a television channel of the same name which began transmissions on November 2, 1982. Although entirely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned: Originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, a public body established in 1990 for this purpose and which came into operation in 1993, following the abolition of the IBA.