BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m on a turnover of £1,004m in the previous financial year. In the year to 31 March 2011 BBC Worldwide's headline profits were up 10.3% to £160.2m - its highest level ever. The growth helped lift the overall return to the BBC by nearly 9% to £182m.

Worldwide is responsible for a wide range of commercial activities, primarily connected in some way with the output and public purposes of the main BBC. The company's work includes investment in television production. BBC Worldwide will often provide additional budget for BBC productions in return for various commercial rights to the programmes, and has also done so for non-BBC programmes as well, such as the Red Production Company drama Mine All Mine for the BBC's rival ITV network in 2004. In 2006, a Content & Production business was formed to produce local versions of BBC formats overseas (maximising revenues by receiving a production fee from the local broadcaster as well as a sum from selling the initial re-versioning rights). BBC Worldwide has also, since, taken a 25% stake in Left Bank Pictures, a newly-formed independent film & TV production company, owned and run by former ITV Productions controller of comedy and drama Andy Harries, and a 25% stake in Cliffhanger Productions – an independent production company that focuses on returning drama for UK networks.