BBC Switch

But I've just said that CBBC/CBeebies brand their main strand, so why shouldn't Switch?

And you said 'we' hate DOGs, I was merely asking who 'we' was. The majority of people may well hate DOGs, I never suggested they didn't.

Are those condoms in the ident? Or are they just fishing nets?

I watched Falcon Beach and I was bewildered, I thought this was the English OC! Instead we get some crappy american ''surfer-dude'' show that definately wont appeal to any teenager, not at least me, although sound was a good watch it felt like they copied Transmission by not having a studio and doing it in unexpected places, you know?

I am a little but confused..... on BBC Three tonight at 7 there is sound, but in the radio times it describes it as a comedy pilot, which was originally shown on saturday on BBC Two. But on the virgin media EPG it describes it as a music show..... Me thinks that radio times have mixed it up...

BBC Switch does not appear to have been well-received, if the views on Digital Spy are any indication - there's one thread there from a 16-year old who says he is not impressed.

Has anyone else noticed that this week Switch is dog-less? May not improve the programming, but it makes it more watchable! Surely that huge DOG should never have been given the ok in the first place.

Has anyone noticed how patronising the stings are? They're around twenty seconds of people meeting up in the street, hugging, and mooning over a shoe, saying 'oh my God, I just bought the most sexiest thing evaaaaaaa ...'

I'm pretty sure our youth doesn't need patronising. And Falcon Beach seems to be nothing more than a box-ticking exercise.

Oh, come on - you must know that you can't base anything on a self-selecting group like the PoV forum.
I don't need to do a straw poll as unscientific as that to know that the vast majority of people will completely fail to have an opinion on DOGs, and the insignificant remainder would be against them.

More relevantly though - BBC Switch as a brand will fail. As was suggested previously, 'teens' (which is a crap start really, you really can't throw 13-19 year olds into a single market segment) don't watch TV because it's packaged up into a nice strand for them. Lots might happen to watch things on T4, but that's not because they think 'yeah, T4! It totally addresses my wants, interests and needs!'

The difference between the POV message board and this forum is as plain as day however - this is a specific TV pres forum and by definition we're more likely to be interested in DOGs, whatever our views on them. The POV message board is a general TV discussion forum, with the programmes being the main talking point rather than the pres elements. The fact is, which I feel shouldn't be ignored - DOGs and ECPs get more threads started about them than any other subject on POV. And if people who are otherwise not interested in pres are complaining about them, which indisputably they are, it indicates a genuine strength of feeling on the subject.

Sadly though, the powers-that-be have decided the views of anyone who uses any internet message board is not representative of the viewing public as a whole. I'm not saying it isn't true in some cases, but that they should tar everyone with the same brush indicates just how far TV execs seem willing to go to suppress any viewpoint which isn't "their way of thinking".


If BBC Switch is going to fail right now it's because of the programmes. We were promised so much that hasn't been delivered. We need the home-grown stuff and the BBC is in a better position to provide this than commercial channels.

As to the idea of "strands", yes I can see why specific packaging might put people off. So here's an idea. Why don't we split the afternoon BBC1 "children's slot" three ways - CBeebies stuff at the start and BBC Switch material at the end - only use standard BBC1 continuity links. The latter would seem more inviting and non-discriminatory against a particular audience, as you could argue specific CBeebies/CBBC links currently are, and might encourage people to watch programmes on merit and not because they are for a particular audience. The impending migration of Neighbours also creates an opportunity for BBC Switch to develop in the 5:35pm slot.

Perhaps BBC Three should go and its commissioned programmes move onto this switch strand...

Or perhaps not...


I think a key problem with BBC Switch is that it didn't have any estabhlished programmes to base itself around, unlike T4 which initially basically provided in-vision continuity for programmes which to some degree had been estabhlished.


Of course considering BBC Switch is just two weeks old it's not an entirely fair comparison, but the T4 we know today is one that kind of moulded to the audience profile it was picking up.

When it launched it also included childrens programming earlier on a Sunday, before kind of growing up through the day with shows in the vein of Saved by the Bell, Hollyoaks and Dawson's Creek - and even The Waltons in it's early days.

The childrens programming was quickly moved out of the strand - and over time T4 has adapted to it's audience which was probably older than they expected - and aiming for this slightly older demographic is probably why T4 has been around nearly 10 years.

I can't see BBC Switch lasting that long!

I agree. I mean what is the point of having a specific 'BBC Switch' programme on Radio 1, when pratically the entire schedule can be listed to by teens

The same for TV. EastEnders would probably top a survey of teenagers favourite BBC programmes, so that means that the BBC are already catering for the age group