BBC Four has been at the forefront of the Scandi drama cult and Spiral. Channel 4 didn't pick up on French drama with The Returned, Witnesses and Resistance until BBC Four got a cult following with Spiral.
I got the impression that filling the daytime with cheap repeats was pretty much the close alternative to making it an 'evening only' channel like BBC3 and 4.
Well yes, with hours to fill and no budget they've got to put something on.
:-(
A former member
BBC4 can't be axed now, since BBC Three is on the way out. For the last ten years BBC2 has been on it arse with no content. It made since only to have two extra channels, 2 or 3, or 2 and 4. There is no room on BBC2 now to have everything on it.
BBC4 can't be axed now, since BBC Three is on the way out.
Why not?
Quote:
For the last ten years BBC2 has been on it arse with no content.
That's just not true, the daytime offering has been the problem the last few years but it's certainly not struggled in the evenings - it's done very well, remember that the last 10 years includes The Apprentice, Great British Bake Off and Top Gear
The idea that BBC3 and 4 suddenly swept in and took away most of BBC2's content is just not the case - they have their own styles of programming and commission for different needs
:-(
A former member
Where would you put all the great content from BBC4?
There's something in that Telegraph article which is incorrect:
Quote:
How much does it cost?
It costs £67.8million to run - a fraction of the price of BBC One, which comes in at £1,337.6million but still cheaper than CBeebies which costs £42.4m.
If BBC Four costs £67.8 million to run, and CBeebies costs £42.4m, then CBeebies is cheaper than BBC 4.
The article says that BBC 4 is cheaper than CBeebies.
I think there is a big argument that it's BBC Two that's had its day. There's very little content these days that wouldn't fit on the rest of the BBC network. I get the point that some shows have started life there before moving to BBC One but you'd still have (ideally) Three and Four to trial stuff. Plus if you're having to cut your entire corporation by 20% there's only so much you can do my salami slicing.
What's the point in having a second general entertainment channel? It costs a fortune to run (roughly a sixth of the entire BBC budget), the daytime and early evening is all repeats or quiz shows that could easily fit into BBC One or be axed. The comedy and lighter stuff is BBC Three's thing. Docs and drama goes to BBC Four. Politics and news goes to the BBC News Channel (and Parliament), which makes sense if its to move away from rolling news.
Of course you'd have to soften the current BBC Three and Four remit slightly but not a great deal.
This isn't what I want at all but if a reduced BBC is a must I would go for a four-channel option, with extra serviced via Connected TV. All services have to make compromises.
BBC1
- pretty much as now
BBC2
- weekdays 6pm-6am, weekends 12noon-6am. Can extend hours for sport when necessary
As others have said it's only useful for sport in daytime so during the weeks it's daytime hours are used by CBeebies, as they largely were up until a few years ago. The station is basically BBC2 minus BBC3 + BBC4, with BBC4 content incorporated into the schedules by losing some of the "daytime" content which has crept into the 7pm hour and moving Newsnight to the News Channel.
BBC3
- daily 7pm-4am. A slightly broader remit than currently taking on some BBC2 comedy content and also being used to give flagship BBC1/2 content a repeat airing. Timeshares with CBBC
BBC News Channel
- it remains and is boosted with content from BBC2, specifically the Daily Politics at midday (11.30am Wed) and Newsnight at 10.30pm. I don't want to get into rota details but three and a half hour shifts broken up by BBC World content at 10.30am, 3.30pm and 8.30pm might just work.
CBeebies
- weekdays 6am to 6pm, weekends 6am to 12noon
Slightly reduced hours - I know the bedtime hour is popular but it has to give I'm afraid. Similarly with limited bandwidth BBC2 (and an adult audience) is more deserving of the space at weekends, while there would also be flexibility for BBC2 to expand into the daytime hours as required.
CBBC
- daily 6am to 7pm
Pretty much as now, but again it's hour can be reduced when live events dictate it. In the event of BBC2 needing to broadcast all day CBBC would air 12noon-7pm, with CBeebies airing in the morning. I'm assuming that is technically possible.
Connected Red Button Services
A TV red button stream would still be useful as a 5th stream and potentially limit disruption to the kids services, but with or without it there would be the current BBC Sport service, the iPlayer and proposed iPlay childrens service, a revamped BBC News service (it doesn't seem to have had the love that the sport app and iPlayer have had), and notably Democracy Live would replace BBC Parliament, offering viewers a choice of live coverage rather than the one stream. I'm afraid guys this might mean an end to your election reruns, although no reason why they couldn't be made available via the iPlayer.
The BBC would also look to move towards HD only, dropping one of it's muxes. This obviously requires regional investment and is easier said than done - probably need to work with ITV & C4 to push it forward and perhaps trade HD space for a legacy SD slot for BBC1/2 for a few years until a full HD switchover.
I wouldn't be too surprised that if BBC Four survives as a linear TV channel it'll eventually be renamed some time/years after BBC Three has moved online. A renaming would help with the awkward number gap on TV left by Three, and I dare say make it easier to axe / move online if needed at a later date. It sounds as if BBC Four's already being linked to the new Ideas service and the iWonder section of the BBC website.