Is there much British telly on in America?

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Just interested to know how available British telly is in America?

Do you have to have a specific satellite subscription to get it or is there more on mainstream channels?

I think it is only available on one channel in my area, the Public Broadcasting Service. But, I don't even know where to watch "Doctor Who."

BBC America

I'd be able to watch BBC America if I signed up for a premium cable subscription.

New Episodes of Doctor Who premiere on BBCA America Sundays at 8 p.m. They are available next day On Demand, at BBCAmerica.com, and on the BBCA app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Xbox.

As a kid, I absolutely loved I, Claudius.

Yeah, PBS has always shown a lot of BBC, and Masterpiece Theatre, etc.

I want to say there was more than one BBC channel on certain cable services, but I can't remember.

There's also a lot of BBC available on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, and there are other British-specific streams like Acorn TV.

Long-winded, but I'll post this for anyone outside the US who's curious how American broadcast TV works. We should also tell them what PBS is. (Let me know if I'm incorrect about anything):

I believe in the UK, all or most over-the-air broadcast stations are BBC. Correct me if I'm wrong. The British also have to pay a tax or fee to have an antenna on their house to receive TV signals, but I think there are less commercials on British television.

In the USA, there are several major broadcast networks. The FCC usually only allows these networks to operate one channel in any given market/area. They make their revenue from advertising/commercials; viewers don't have to pay if they have an antenna atop their roof, we just have to sit through a lot of commercials.

For instance: most metropolitan areas will have one ABC affiliate, one NBC affiliate, one CBS affiliate, one FOX affiliate, etc. You can look up all of those major American broadcast networks. They're technically in competition with each other, and each network creates its own programming or buys syndicated programs to broadcast. Anyway, the content is almost entirely American (unless they're showing a James Bond movie or something).

One broadcast network is known as PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Unlike the other major networks, PBS is non-for-profit and non-commercial* ...well, more-or-less. They get subsidized by the federal government and are constantly having fundraising drives asking viewers to "pledge their support." Anyway, programming on PBS is a bit different. More documentaries, more artsy. PBS is indeed known for showing some British TV shows from time-to-time. Most Americans who remember watching Monty Python growing up were most certainly seeing it on PBS.

There are also two anthology programs: Masterpiece Theater and Mystery! which have been on for a long, long time now. They just collect and air various British crime and drama shows.

PBS is how I learned about Gormenghast. Apparently, those were very big novels in the UK. I'd never heard of them, but PBS aired the miniseries.

Other British shows I remember from PBS: Red Dwarf, Keeping Up Appearances, Last of the Summer Wine, Mr. Bean.

In New York City, you get a copious amount of British shows on PBS channels 13 and 21.

Then there are the British-produced shows on such entities as Netflix.

Then there are those which I can't think of at the moment---but that do exist.

We don't get the more "pop-culturish" British shows, though.

I remember I, Claudius. It made its way to the little town I lived in via a translator station from the big city 100 miles away. I knew the guy who maintained it. It wasn't easy. He once broke both axles on his vehicle.

I kinda miss Two Ronnies, Fawlty Towers, Benny Hill, and other similar shows of that era (Dangermouse, anyone?). You didn't need a university degree to "get" the humour, you just watched and laughed.