TV Home Forum

BBC Three returns to TV on BBC One

Monday - Wednesday at 10:35pm (February 2019)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BM
BM11
Jonwo posted:
BM11 posted:
It wouldn’t surprise me if this doesn’t last long due to poor ratings or problems shortening the news does to the BBC reputation causes a panicked rethink.


I doubt the BBC care about reputation from shortening news

Oh they do if polticians start complaining.
BR
Brekkie
Didn't they say they'd do this when the channel closed, then within months it was down to half an hour a week later at night.

Also 10.35/10.45 makes no difference- BBC3 was there to offer an alternative to what BBC1/2 and ITV served up at 9pm.
Jeffmister and orange gave kudos
:-(
A former member
What about scotland and its opt outs? Holby city goes out at 10.35 on Tuesdays. Or will the new bbc scotland broadcast this ?
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
There is no sense in the logic that shortening the news is to then enable this new youth slot. If they can reach a younger audience at 10.35 they can reach them at 10.45 can't they?
AA
Amber Avenger

They believed that audiences would stick around on iPlayer, and while Killing Eve and Class (both of which were marketed as BBC3 dramas) both got popular, no one was really going to stick around for content they can find elsewhere else


Two interesting examples here and they couldn't be more different. It's hard to argue Class was ever popular, the pilot I guess had some interest but I don't think it's in anyone but the most hardcore whovians consciousness - especially compared to BBC 3's first go at a proper Doctor Who spinoff in Torchwood. Then it was shoved out proper late night BBC one months later with pretty poor ratings.

If you look at Killing Eve, it was less BBC Three on One, more like BBC One with first look on Three via boxset. Would it have been as popular if it hadn't been going out primetime BBC One? Hard to say, I'd like to think so but it shows how much the lines have blurred since Three went online only.

That said, Killing Eve apart (which is an acquisition anyway) , what success has BBC Three had since moving online? Fleebag and This Country seem to be the standouts, but other popular shows such as Cuckoo and People Just Do Nothing were there on the linear channel. Maybe this will up the hit rate.
KE
kernow
There is no sense in the logic that shortening the news is to then enable this new youth slot. If they can reach a younger audience at 10.35 they can reach them at 10.45 can't they?


The BBC seem to be using the argument that by shortening the news (so that it finishes before News at Ten), younger viewers will be less likely to switch over to ITV after the 10 o'clock News, as News at Ten will still be on (or the regional news to be more specific).

Basically, the BBC seem to think that younger viewers are more likely to switch over to ITV at the end of the news if both news programmes finish at the same time.
Last edited by kernow on 11 February 2019 6:15pm
AN
Andrew Founding member
As soon as the “Three!!” Sting appears in front of the programme, the vast majority of viewers who skew very old on BBC One, will switch off as it almost tells them this isn’t for them.

Whereas younger viewers won’t be there in the first place.

Bets on how long they keep to the Mon-Wed fixed zone before it gets displaced by HIGMNFY, MOTD Midweek editions and various other programming.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
There is no sense in the logic that shortening the news is to then enable this new youth slot. If they can reach a younger audience at 10.35 they can reach them at 10.45 can't they?

Well you would have thought so. If anything the young adult population is the most likely generation to be up late and potentially watching TV. Children and the elderly are for the most part likely to be in bed early, as would be those in regular employment. So you would think that people in their late teens and early 20s, many of whom will be students and have more flexible routines, wouldn't mind staying up until 10:45pm and beyond. I don't see what is to be gained by shortening the news, if it isn't to cut costs and/or steal ITV's viewers before their 10:45pm junction. Maybe it's that? I don't know.
IS
Inspector Sands
BM11 posted:
It wouldn’t surprise me if this doesn’t last long due to poor ratings or problems shortening the news does to the BBC reputation causes a panicked rethink.

Remember that the news length is just returning back to what it was for, and it'll still be longer than ITVs News at 10


If the slot does disappear then it will be because they've found something better to put on or need the time for something else. Having that slot fixed 5 nights a week could be a bit problematic fr the schedulers
JK
JKDerry
There is no sense in the logic that shortening the news is to then enable this new youth slot. If they can reach a younger audience at 10.35 they can reach them at 10.45 can't they?

Well you would have thought so. If anything the young adult population is the most likely generation to be up late and potentially watching TV. Children and the elderly are for the most part likely to be in bed early, as would be those in regular employment. So you would think that people in their late teens and early 20s, many of whom will be students and have more flexible routines, wouldn't mind staying up until 10:45pm and beyond. I don't see what is to be gained by shortening the news, if it isn't to cut costs and/or steal ITV's viewers before their 10:45pm junction. Maybe it's that? I don't know.

Just reveals a total different attitude to "late night" schedules there is in the UK compared to the US. Talk shows clutter their late nights each weeknight on the three main networks. US viewers have a habit of staying up later than UK viewers.


NBC still has their iconic Tonight Show at 11.35pm EST (10.35pm CT and MT) on weeknights followed by Late Night at the wonderfully precise 12.37am. These and other late night shows have seen their audiences plummet, but still are big bucks in commercial revenue for the channel along with their online presence.

It seems here in the UK once 10.30pm approaches Mondays thru Thursdays it is night night and the broadcasters just don't brother providing any decent programming.

Maybe ITV need to do what CBS did from 1972, and offer a late night move, at least for a few nights a week after their News at Ten? Give a bit of choice.
EX
excel99
What about scotland and its opt outs? Holby city goes out at 10.35 on Tuesdays. Or will the new bbc scotland broadcast this ?

Will they want Holby City on BBC Scotland since it's not a Scottish show? And Wales has a 30 minute news/current affairs show on Wednesday's after the BBC News at Ten. I can see this block being consistently at 2235 in England only
IT
itsrobert Founding member
BM11 posted:
It wouldn’t surprise me if this doesn’t last long due to poor ratings or problems shortening the news does to the BBC reputation causes a panicked rethink.

Remember that the news length is just returning back to what it was for, and it'll still be longer than ITVs News at 10


Are you sure that's right? Whenever I've watched ITV's News at Ten, it runs to about 10.30pm, give or take, with no ad break. Plus the regional news and weather afterwards. if the BBC's News at Ten is going to be 25 minutes, followed by regional news and weather and finished by 10.35pm, then surely the BBC's must be shorter? Or have I missed something?

Newer posts