BBC Three

According to the article:

"The plans will have to be approved by the BBC Trust, who will consult with the public from the beginning of next year."

It's even more bollocks than I though it would be - pretty much every statement they make is ****.

One point I hadn't considered. The channel is to be delivered via the iPlayer so for this to work should the BBC not be required to overcome the issue that means some programmes just don't appear on iPlayer on Sky boxes. I believe the same issue affects some Virgin boxes.

Is BBC Three going to be a streaming IPTV channel as such or will it be a case of choosing shows on catch-up? Currently I can watch the channels on my desktop, but not on the Smart TV/Chromecast.

My understanding is it stops being a streaming channel and becomes a catch up / Netflix style. This is where some of the cost reductions occur.

My friend Millie is working on this project, and knowing her as I do, I can tell she's played a key part in the plans. Listicles, GIFs and other forms of social media friendly video formats are right up her street. She's fantastic, but as a middle class Cambridge graduate from Manchester working for BBC Radio 1 and independent radio producers, I hope this isn't just a middle class tv fest, with the industry talking to itself.

I'm sure it's not, despite my strong concerns about moving it online I'm sure (I hope) that the BBC knows how to handle the channel's future--but some doubt exists at the back of my mind. It's probably nothing, though.

The press release is a typical example of hiding behind social media - essentially trying to make out that axing a TV channel in favour of clips on Youtube and Facebook is a good thing.

Something doesn't add up - is the intention for BBC One +1 to only operate from 9pm onwards?

I'm personally wondering why they are keeping the name 'BBC3', surely as something different they should be starting with a fresh brand? It'll look a little daft with no BBC3 between 2 and 4...though I somehow doubt BBC4 is gonna be sticking around in it's present form...

Seems to be the plan - 8pm I could understand, 9pm makes little sense. With EastEnders for example it means you could catch it on +1 on Mondays and Fridays, but not Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while some of their most popular (and older skewer) shows like Strictly and Countryfile would largely miss the cut-off completely.

Obvious compromise is to extend CBBC to 8pm, keep BBC3 but make better use of it (plus BBC2 and the post-news slots on BBC1) for repeating BBC1 content.

So that's two episodes out of four of Eastenders that will be available on +1. I'm sure that will make sense to your average viewer.

I thought the original plan was for BBC One+1 to kick off at 2000 (i.e. show the BBC One schedule from 1900 an hour later). That would ensure the BBC peak-time schedule was available, but avoid the problem of the 1830 regional opt (I'm sure they won't want to have to have regional variations on BBC One+1 - so be interesting to see what happens at 2225...)

I'm assuming BBC Three HD becomes BBC One+1 HD?

If they want to run CBBC until 2100 then either BBC One+1 kicks off at 2100 (i.e. shows BBC One schedule from 2000) or they need to do something else? Could they do some Red Button swappage - so lose an hour of Red Button 2000-2100 and split Red Button between two time-exclusive services in SD. You could do CBBCRed Button and Red Button/BBC One+1 sharing of two video services? In HD you'd have issues still though...