BBC Three channel to return in January 2022

Filling all of these slots on a linear TV channel is going to be more expensive, no question.

BBC Three has successfully managed to have one breakout hit every few months via iPlayer, with some genuinely fantastic shows being produced. Whether that's enough to fill the schedules is a different matter, and I think they're going to struggle enormously in that respect.

If the key 9pm slot is still new content, every weekday, two months after the channel relaunches, I'll be amazed. What I suspect will be the case, however, is that they eventually revert to archive content and imports, and that BBC Three becomes a sort of linear 'window' for iPlayer. So you end up with a scenario where BBC Three is 90% repeats, and BBC Four is 100% repeats, all of which is available on iPlayer. Baffling.

The BBC channels are all in a bit of a mess currently, and I don't personally see how this is going to help. At all.

I think the issue with that is that you either end up with kids content on a channel that is nowhere near the other kids channels in the EPG, or general entertainment content on a channel that is nowhere near the other general entertainment channels.

That was one of the main reasons for splitting BBC Choice into BBC Three and CBBC AIUI (as kids just weren't surfing to BBC Choice for kids shows)

ISTR that the research showed kids in particular were far more likely to watch channels near each other in the EPG than navigate to a different bit of the EPG or remember a 3 digit channel number for one channel.

BBC Three's budget has doubled though so there will be more new programmes!

And with added content from Radio 1 and newsbeat (not confirmed) they would have enough to fill the evening schedules.

I seem to remember Radio 1 used to do a show where you could see the presenters "in-vision" on the internet.. perhaps that could be somewhat revived?

I seem to remember Radio 1 used to do a show where you could see the presenters "in-vision" on the internet.. perhaps that could be somewhat revived?

After having a root around on TV Ark, all I can say is... #BringBacktheBlobs

In all seriousness, I feel like this could be another "News at When" situation, whereby ITV axed a popular service, then half-heartedly brought it back some years later and could never regain the upper-hand. I hope it does work out though.

To be fair they're giving it it's full hours back, and yes they'll be alot of repeat content there but there was originally anyway - and this time they've got 5 years of programming they haven't shown on BBC3 as a linear channel, some of which hasn't got a BBC1/2 outing either, plus recently there has been quite a bit of acquired archive US stuff which can fill some hours too.

Indeed any stats around on the amount of new programming that has been produced under the BBC3 brand in recent years?

Not from me but it's worth pointing out that a lot of it has been short-form so it would be used up fairly quickly if it were to be aired.

As for repeats, that's expected, but is there enough of a budget to produce new content which is appealing enough every night beyond launch to sustain ratings?

One of the things which have been missed in this discussion about how BBC Three's schedule will be filled is the content that it can regain from BBC Four. For the past few years, BBC Four has had to be the 'awkward' (considering the channel's usual output) destination for 'overflow' sports coverage (eg; Wimbledon, simultaneous World Cup games, etc) whereas BBC Three was a 'natural' home for all that programming in its initial incarnation. A similar thing has needed to happen with things such as the Eurovision semifinals and festivals like Glastonbury & Radio 1's Big Weekend. Moving all of that content back to BBC Three and expanding upon it (particularly with festival coverage whereby BBC Three can have extended coverage whilst there still being a role for BBC Four to play) will help fill the schedule quite a fair bit

https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/bbc-three-relaunch-proposals-revealed

Appears that the proposals have been revealed. RXTVinfo reports.

Given the news of the BBC Three relaunch on linear TV, all I can say is that it's about time that this finally happened.