BBC Three axed as a TV channel

I wonder what will happen in terms of channel names? It'll be strange for "actual proper telly" to only have BBC One, Two and Four when there's no "Three" there any more. Four would presumably have to be renamed (e.g. "BBC Culture" or some such name)?

It also would seem odd for something that's online only to have a "TV channel" style name like BBC Three. Maybe the online channel/content could be called something like "BBCiPlayer Channel" or "BBC iPlayer Exclusive" or similar?

Theoretically, Four could be renamed Three *if* whatever-the-current-Three-turns-into chooses a "Three"-less identity?

Do you really think it would be a good idea to rebrand/relaunch BBC Four after having to cease broadcasting BBC Three to save money?

BBC Two and BBC Four could easily be merged and honestly, who watches BBC Parliament?

Imagine how much confusion that would cause.

"Now on BBC Three, Dan Cruickshank presents The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II."

How much would be saved if the BBC Parliament channel was axed, but 'Democracy Live' continued? Given that the News Channel and Sky carry most important discussions live, and the Daily Politics also broadcasts PMQs, the need for a television channel dedicated to Parliamentary coverage becomes hard to defend.

There's a strong argument for feeds being publicly available, of course, and Democracy Live fulfills this.

Yes, that would be an option but no, not 'easily', not without a loss of content on both sides.


There isn't an easy or perfect solution to this.

I just don't see how closing BBC Three saves money. There is absolutely no sense in axing a very popular channel (so what if its low brow), moving some of its content online, extending CBBC and giving part of BBC3's budget to BBC1 drama... BBC4 should be axed and its content moved within BBC2. isn't the BBC supposed to serve everybody... what about serving the youth audience?! its a badly thought out plan and achieves nothing. its simply a myth that younger people are constantly online. this is just a death nail in the future of TV. Its better to have BBC3's shows on a TV channel also when a show is aired on a single channel people cause a hype about the said show on twitter, facebook ect encouraging others to tune in to the said show and boost its audience, putting it online will not have the same effect! Tony Hall has got this so so wrong, how the hell did he get the DG's job.

Given that BBC Three shares a stream with CBBC, and with the extra hour of CBBC (which I'm guessing will extend its broadcasting hours to 8pm), does this mean that BBC One +1 will only broadcast in the evening/overnight from 8pm?

If they want to launch a 24 hour BBC One +1, then they're still going to need another stream, so closing BBC Three will just result in unused bandwidth, so in that respect, closing it won't save any money.

100% agreed. It makes no sense when you've got four numerically named broadcast TV channels, cutting the third and keeping the fourth, unless they plan on rebranding or axing the fourth channel at the same as the third one goes away.

That logic seemed to have passed by ITV when they removed the numeral from their main channel. Surely, if you can have 2, 3 and 4 without a 1 - you have have a One, Two and Four without a Three?

Furthermore, don't they intend to keep the BBC Three brand alive on iPlayer?

Exactly. Absolutely stupid decision which gets more stupid the more they reveal about it.

Firstly there is no demand for BBC1+1 - zilch, zero, nothing - yet that appears to be the motivating factor here.

Secondly the saving has already pretty much been wiped out - and how can on the one hand you say the iPlayer will be an adequate replacement for BBC3 but then say we need a catch up channel for BBC1.

Thirdly moving the budget to BBC1 drama means more middle of the road crap for middle aged women that serves the young audience in no way whatsoever.

Fourthly BBC1+1 taking the slot in the evening means one less potential slot for live sport and live music which doesn't fit on the other channels.

Fifthly it's just an idiotic decision plain and simple.

Sixthly can I rant to the BBC trust yet?

I'd very much doubt a 24 hour BBC One +1, though it is a waste if they still have BBC One give up for the night around half past midnight as it does these days. BBC Three still puts stuff on til about 03:00-04:00. Can't see the appetite for BBC One showing the BBC News Channel showing BBC World News... all timeshifted an hour later.