BBC Three is frivolous at a time where: A) Costs need to be cut and B) BBC Two is crying out for the bolder remit it had before Three and Four launched.
When BBC Three launched, original content on multichannel TV was minimal and therefore the younger demographic was largely only served by repeats. Now there are plenty of channels with original content which are able to fund themselves commercially.
So what is the point of the BBC (Mis)Trust? They put out a costly public consultation about the changes, but ignored the people who took part. Effectively ignoring the views of the people that
pay their wages!
If this took place in a commercial organisation, they'd be sacked for gross mis-conduct! The BBC (Mis)Trust is not fit for purpose, and should be disbanded and replaced.
I have mixed opinions about this. BBC Four has a lower audience share, and so is theoretically less valued by the audience. But, then I think that the content is unique and is not the usual fare produced by the commercial channels. BBC Three on the other hand is well served with other channels.
I think BBC Two and Four are similar enough to be merged together. As a BBC Three viewer, I fear that once the channel goes the BBC won't be properly serving my age-range properly, whereas the older audience will have both Two and Four to watch.
At the end of the day, the younger "Three" viewers just don't watch or appriciate BBC Four, and BBC Two is in a similar situation. The BBC will have to work hard to appease everyone with this decision, where as they could have killed two birds with one stone by merging Four in to Two.
The BBC will have to work hard to appease everyone with this decision, where as they could have killed two birds with one stone by merging Four in to Two.
Why not Three into Two? Perhaps you are too young to recall, but BBC Two used to be thriving with programming for the younger demographic. Some of the biggest comedies started on the channel and there were whole strands of youth programming (in fact much of the BBC's youth output was on Two.
I think the fact it has happened on the same day the EBU have announced they've secured the UHF spectrum for the purpose of terrestrial TV for the foreseeable future, with terrestrial TV expected to continue into the 2030s across the EU, says it all.
The case simply hasn't been made for closing the channel, halving the budget and spending £6m of what's left of it on short form content well catered for by Youtube etc. rather than on actual programming, while £30m goes on making more middle aged drama for BBC1.
It's been clear from the outset the public consultation was nothing more than procedure being follow and respondents being ignored.
The BBC will have to work hard to appease everyone with this decision, where as they could have killed two birds with one stone by merging Four in to Two.
Why not Three into Two? Perhaps you are too young to recall, but BBC Two used to be thriving with programming for the younger demographic. Some of the biggest comedies started on the channel and there were whole strands of youth programming (in fact much of the BBC's youth output was on Two.
But you already have BBC Three so what would be the point? BBC Two and Four are
currently
very similar. It would make a merger much easier. BBC Two and Four just go together.
The update appears to be in the notes to editors. Worth noting...
Quote:
A gradual transition
There will be a brief phased migration online from January 2016 until the end of February 2016, using the vacated distribution capacity as a promotional transitional channel to run alongside BBC Three Online in that period. All cross-promotional activity must be platform neutral (with reference to the BBC code on cross-promotion) to ensure that no inappropriate activity occurs.
So by the end of Feb 2016 BBC Three will be online only. I wonder if phased migration will mean that BBC Three will initially reduce it's on air hours in January to start at 9pm, in preparation for CBBC extending it's hours.
What it means is that the linear channel will close and the online BBC Three will launch at the end of January, but throughout February you'll still be able to find a channel called BBC Three in the usual place on the EPG but it'll just be running a promotional barker.
RS
Rob_Schneider
It's a barmy decision when you consider Radio 3, 6Music, 1Xtra and the Asian Network are still going.