BBC Three axed as a TV channel

I wasn't aware that 23:20 onwards had been confirmed as some sort of permanent BBC Three on BBC TWO slot, had it? But if so, then yes, that's a good point. Arguably BBC Three acts as a good alternative for young people at prime time already so to banish it's shows to very late night on the flagship channels is another kick for the brand.

As for Newsnight, I expect it will play in full from 23:00 in Scotland - there is no natural break in the programme so to artifically end it mid flow would be daft. At present, Scotland just crashes into the network version and you can miss some really good stuff, really irritates me. "Scotland 2014" will run from 2230-2300 with Sarah Smith. More here. I suppose any further discussion on that should really go into the Newsnight thread.

Newnight will apparently be shown in Scotland at 23:00 now so in theory they could show the whole programme and time shift the rest of the schedule. The new programme is called "Scotland 2014" so in theory it'll only last up until the referendum.

There saying it wont return, so that would mean were back to square one.

So what?

My viewing habits, re: these two channels, are the exact opposite of yours. (and "So what?" to that too!)

You are just one individual person, and so am I. Neither of us are necessarily representative of the entire licence-fee-paying population of UK viewers.

I might happen to be a big fan of, say, some obscure niche channel that gets about ten viewers a week. But, as I am not the centre of the universe, my viewing taste alone should not dictate whether a channel should remain on-air or close down. And neither should yours. And it would be immensely arrogant of you or me to think that it does.

Furthermore, the UK has a predominantly "ageing population", so presumably the greatest single portion the BBC's (now frozen) income is coming from older - e.g. age 50+ or whatever - licence fee payers (who are part of BBC Four's target demographic), and not the younger ones (i.e. BBC Three's "youf" demographic).

Therefore, it's surely only right and proper that the BBC's output reflects this?

The age circa 21-35 (or whatever) demographic are already overly catered for with various channels of the ITV2/E4 (etc) variety.

Meanwhile, retired viewers who may crave intellectual programming (e.g. highbrow arts/science/history documentaries), as opposed to brash/shouty/celeb/in-yer-face programmes, have to wait until mid-evening for the relevant BBC channel to be on-air, which is a fat lot of use if some/many/all of them happen to also be the sort of people who are "early to bed, early to rise".

In a climate of austerity due to frozen income at the Beeb, and the inevitable need for savings and tough decisions which that brings, chasing the already massively over-catered youth market (who, as I've already said, are NOT the MAJORITY of the Beeb's paying audience) becomes easily the least justifiable part of the corporation's current expenditure.

Conversely, "BBC Four audience"-targeted content being available at more different times of day (and on actual proper telly, for the benefit of the non-internet-savvy and/or non-"iPlayer generation" viewers) is amongst the MOST justifiable use of increasingly tight budgets - as they ARE the majority proportion of paying viewers.

Class dismissed.

Besides, such programming (serious documentaries about the arts, history, etc.) is one of the major raisons d' etre of public broadcasting. Commercial television doesn't do much of it, so this type of programming must, by default, remain in the purview of the BBC and its equivalents throughout Europe. It's what separates them from commercial TV. (And I'm certainly no elitist; I also watch Family Guy , but surely such programming can be left to the commercial channels?)

The fact that the younger generation doesn't watch much BBC Four is, in my opinion, actually a rather sad commentary of the younger generation and its media habits. The type of programming shown on BBC Four -- and, to some extent, on BBC Two -- is what the BBC does better than anyone in the world. It defines the BBC brand.

Which is exactly why the BBC shouldn't be relegating it's USP to a digital channel thus making it "niche". It made sense for the BBC to launch an "extra" channel to expand on it's minimal youth programming. What didn't make sense was destroying the much loved BBC2 for identical BBC4.

Breaking ....

Zai Bennett, controller BBC Three leaving to be 'controller' Sky Atlantic.


more details ……..

MEDIACENTRE on BBC.CO.UK
15-Apr-2014 @ 12:12

Zai Bennett leaves the BBC before his post is made redundant

Commission hipster nonsense starring Russell Kane and/or Greg from Radio 1, axe decent comedy such as Mongrels and ensure the channel is so unviable that it moves online.

Job done and back to the commercial sector. Well done Zai.

BBC Three's move from TV to online is 'not definite', according to BBC Trust member Richard Ayre.
www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a567865/bbc-three-closure-not-definite-says-trustee

What a Surprise

Well they haven't had any public consultation yet so they have to say it's not definite. Probably rather naively I'm hoping common sense will prevail and the BBC Trust will kick out the idea of axing BBC3.