BBC Switch

I might be a bit behind, but has the BBC Switch brand now ended. I know it was due to be but I didn't know if it had actually happened.

The whole thing was a disaster from start to finish in my opinion, patronising for those who it was aimed at and annoying for everyone else as it specifically excluded anyone outside the target age range.

The amount of air time they used to use on BBC Radio 1 to advertise BBC Switch on Radio 1 and BBC Switch on BBC2 was ridiculous. The dual branding on Radio 1 never sat very well and seemed more about brand building Andy Parfitt's pet project than the actual content.

Because the closure was announced a while ago (July 2010), I thought it had long gone.

However, a quick google revealed that its broadcasts only ended in mid-December 2010. The website was announced as a potential victim of the wider cuts announced today.

The problem with BBC Switch was that nobody really knew what it was.

The idea of putting shows as exclusive online streams was good in theory, but executed really badly and the BBC failed to realise that viewers in that demographic don't like being told what they should be watching.

Especially when content wise it was absolutely appalling with most of the presenters being dreadful
Simon Amstell clones with too much of a "knowing" presence about them.

They should have given it a DEF II slot on weeknights rather than chucking it on Saturday afternoons when none of the potential viewers even knew it existed

The strand was even criticised by past stalwarts of teen television such as Phil Redmond and Russell T Davies and the fact that no one protested for it's reprieve in the same lengths as 6Music pretty much
allowed it to disappear quietly.

Shows such as Byker Grove shown in CBBC were getting tired by 2006 when it was axed, but the fact that
BBC Switch was dying from the word go pretty much proved a point of narrowcasting gone too far.

Yep its ended. Final programmes aired on December 17th (2010)

Looks like Radio 1 are sticking with their Switch programmes, at least for the moment, although no longer branded as Switch. Also note the Teen Awards last year were branded as such and not "Switch"...

By the time it began to make an impact the BBC had already axed it. A shame BBC2 have just stuck old films in the slot - they could at least repeat things like The Cut in the 12noon hour in the short term at least.