TV Home Forum

BBC Three - Trust's final decision published

Split from BBC Three (November 2015)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
WH
Whataday Founding member
If you look at the formats poached by BBC One and Two, they have been tweaked to make them more accessible to an older audience. Don't Tell the Bride bombed on BBC One after it moved. It was too much of a 'Three' show to transfer over


I don't think Don't Tell The Bride is a good example to suggest when arguing BBC Three's case. It's a perfect example of the sort of programming that be at home on ITV2, E4 or Channel 5. The worthy shows are so far and few between, they can be accommodated by BBC One and Two quite comfortably.
LL
London Lite Founding member
If you look at the formats poached by BBC One and Two, they have been tweaked to make them more accessible to an older audience. Don't Tell the Bride bombed on BBC One after it moved. It was too much of a 'Three' show to transfer over


I don't think Don't Tell The Bride is a good example to suggest when arguing BBC Three's case. It's a perfect example of the sort of programming that be at home on ITV2, E4 or Channel 5. The worthy shows are so far and few between, they can be accommodated by BBC One and Two quite comfortably.


Yet are E4 and ITV2 doing copy cat formats of DTTB and Snog, Marry, Avoid? No.

Even the trashy formats had elements of PSB. Snog, Marry, Avoid was about confidence building around style and image without going too much to the extreme. DTTB while providing an ITV2 style sensationalist format around the poor ability of the groom to provide the 'dream wedding' also had elements of education including budgeting.

I'd also disagree that the other shows which have transferred have done "quite comfortably" as the two other channels have completely different target audiences.

BBC One's feeble attempts at youth skewed programming such as Waterloo Road and more recently Cuffs shows that if you attempt to skew young and still try and accommodate an older audience doesn't quite work.
DJ
DJGM

Because they have to make awkward decisions. They can't do everything.


If they put forward a public consultation to ask viewers what they think of the proposals, they should make their final decision based upon what most people think. They did not do that. They ignored public opinion and went ahead with the plans regardless.



It's been clear from the outset the public consultation was nothing more than procedure being follow and respondents being ignored.


Exactly. The consultation was little more than a way to say "we're listening" to save face, but they still didn't listen, and ignored all those that said the proposals were a bad idea. Like I said earlier, the BBC (Mis)Trust is no longer fit for purpose.
NG
noggin Founding member

This audience will only have Radio 1 (and 1Xtra for BAME) as a mainstream PSB outlet for them. Radio 1 unlike BBC Three doesn't satisfy all of the audience as it has to be mainstream in nature during the day. The diverse music programming at night is tokenism as people tend to listen to the radio during daytime hours.

This. This. This.


AIUI 80% of the BBC Three target audience are expected to stop watching BBC Three shows after this move. And effectively it has moved BBC Three shows to a pay-TV zone. It's not possible to watch online content without some form of broadband or mobile data subscription - unless you are able to watch in a library I guess.


Depending on who operates the library, you get an hour free and the option to pay £1 for another.

So even if you went to watch a 90 minute programme on the BBC Three side of iPlayer, you'd be again in the Pay TV zone. The BAFTA award winning Murdered by my Boyfriend was 65 mins.

Commercial channels who serve BBC Three's demographic don't have the range of output that BBC Three currently shows on linear platforms.


Precisely.

By moving online only, the BBC have effectively made BBC Three a Pay-TV service...

it's a very sad day. It was a relatively low cost service serving an audience that is underserved by the BBC, and by PSB broadcasting in general...

Of course the reality is that it hasn't gone online. It's been closed, with a small amount of programming continuing to be commissioned. For the moment. But if "the youth" don't flock to watch it on iPlayer in their hundreds of thousands, I suspect this won't last long...
JA
JAS84
BBC One's feeble attempts at youth skewed programming such as Waterloo Road and more recently Cuffs shows that if you attempt to skew young and still try and accommodate an older audience doesn't quite work.
Bad example, considering how long WR ran for. Clearly it DID work.
TR
trivialmatters
Programmes for the 16-24 demographic will move to BBC 2, where they were before BBC Three launched. Nobody will miss out.

If anything they should have been more bold and axed the BBC Three brand altogether and replaced it with something more description. "BBC Stream" or something.
LL
London Lite Founding member
JAS84 posted:
BBC One's feeble attempts at youth skewed programming such as Waterloo Road and more recently Cuffs shows that if you attempt to skew young and still try and accommodate an older audience doesn't quite work.
Bad example, considering how long WR ran for. Clearly it DID work.


If you seriously think the Scottish era of the drama worked, then you're deluded.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Programmes for the 16-24 demographic will move to BBC 2, where they were before BBC Three launched. Nobody will miss out.


Unlike the old days of DEF II, there's no set 1800 block for the BBC Three strand. If a show is scheduled post Newsnight, then clearly it's not going to get the share that it'd get if it was on at 2200 on BBC Three.

What linear viewers are getting in return for the scrapping of a whole channel is tokenistic slots where the demographic is unlikely to watch, while those who dipped into Family Guy and then discovered the UK commissions will no longer do so, instead gaining share for ITV2 and their advertisers.
PF
PFML84
When Family Guy or American Dad is the highest rating shows on BBC Three that kinda tells you there's a problem.
What problem? How is getting close to (and some times over) a million people a night for one/two shows a problem? The BBC took a risk showing it at 6pm BBC Two - it failed. They moved it to late night BBC Three and it took off and has worked very well for years. It's a show aimed at the very demographic BBC Three is supposed to serve and many times was used as lead ins for their new dramas and documentaries. These shows may be their highest rated programming currently, but a few years ago BBC Three was a much bigger success when new episodes of Little Britain got almost 2m and EastEnders repeats were getting around 1.3m a night. Of course when shows get moved around channels and timeslots the audience goes elsewhere, which is why FG and AD have worked so well for BBC Three staying in the post-11pm timeslot for years.
IN
Interceptor
What linear viewers are getting in return for the scrapping of a whole channel is tokenistic slots where the demographic is unlikely to watch, while those who dipped into Family Guy and then discovered the UK commissions will no longer do so, instead gaining share for ITV2 and their advertisers.

Not much evidence of that happening, though. Not that it's a particularly good reason to do something literally any other broadcaster could/will do.
IN
Interceptor
Paddy posted:
When Family Guy or American Dad is the highest rating shows on BBC Three that kinda tells you there's a problem.
What problem? How is getting close to (and some times over) a million people a night for one/two shows a problem? The BBC took a risk showing it at 6pm BBC Two - it failed. They moved it to late night BBC Three and it took off and has worked very well for years. It's a show aimed at the very demographic BBC Three is supposed to serve and many times was used as lead ins for their new dramas and documentaries. These shows may be their highest rated programming currently, but a few years ago BBC Three was a much bigger success when new episodes of Little Britain got almost 2m and EastEnders repeats were getting around 1.3m a night. Of course when shows get moved around channels and timeslots the audience goes elsewhere, which is why FG and AD have worked so well for BBC Three staying in the post-11pm timeslot for years.

The problem is that's not what the channel is/was there to do. That's not to say there's no place for imports, but when most weeks that's all that's in the top 10 - as a PSB there's explaining to be done; particularly if these imports are costing similar/more than original content.


Viewers wont loose out on this front, as has been established. (And no, 'enduring' adverts isn't a good enough reason for it to stay put.)

EastEnders repeats aren't a good enough reason either, frankly.
MA
Markymark

The problem is that's not what the channel is/was there to do. That's not to say there's no place for imports, but when most weeks that's all that's in the top 10 - as a PSB there's explaining to be done; particularly if these imports are costing similar/more than original content.


Indeed. BBC 4's import slot (21:00 to 23:00 Saturday) is rapidly becoming very popular, though (hopefully !!!) the cost of those series is off anyone's radar.

I can't imagine any other BBC channel taking on those shows, should BBC 4 get the chop.
Hopefully More 4 would pick them up, should that happen.

Newer posts