> The BBC has such an extensive and amazing back catalogue of content they wholly own.

No it doesn't. The BBC wholly owns virtually nothing.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140603125500/htt...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/contributor_rights.shtml?chapte...

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/nov/25/bbc-archive-onli...

And more importantly, the things it does wholly own, it very rarely knows, legally, that it does wholly own, as the records aren't reliable. So it would involve a vast amount of legal time and risk to investigate.