BBC3. The future

Good points Brekkie and Noggin - I have no interest in politics at all - so hands up if my understanding isn't correct.

Just had a read of this for anyone who is interested:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/behindtheheadlines/licence-fee

We can have a Blue car vs Red car debate on the funding of the BBC until the cows come home.

In terms of BBC Three, it was always a highly controversial decision to allow its existence, and one that even the Labour party hesitated over.

For me it was very much: "Let's create a public-funded channel that will appeal to a market which is highly commercial and already catered for adequately elsewhere. What will we put on it? Mainly repeats and imports but the occasional worthy documentary that could have sat quite nicely elsewhere. We'll pad the rest out with some naff reality TV"

Similarly, a lot of money was frittered away on BBC Online, (later BBCi, then BBC.co.uk and then BBC Online again). There is no denying that the BBC News website initially played a huge influence in the way we digest news, but there are millions more pages of worthless content that were by no means essential, nor desired.

This.

If you care about the BBC...
...or the NHS
... or the pension you'll get when you retire
... or the benefits you may or may not get if you are ill, disabled or unable to get a job for a long time
... or 101 other things about how life works in this country,

then you really need to have at least some awareness of politics.

And be fully aware of who you choose to vote for ... that's if you choose to vote at all.

Here you go:

Kudos ... Well said. You should be a politician. I'd vote for you in the morning sir. Thank You.

Back on topic . . .

I noticed that specific dates have appeared on the TVF calendar for the end of BBC Three as a broadcast channel (and the transition).

Have these been published, as I don't seem to have seen them elsewhere?

Weren't they in the BBC press release?

I didn't see that.

They've not announced a specific date but I think did say end of January for the closure with a barker to follow for a month, whch is what the calendar shows.

Still think it is absolutely ridiculous that it's closing before the BBC have stated what they plan to use the space for, especially as BBC1+1 was quite rightly rejected. IMO a rejigged BBC3 with less original content but making better use of narrative repeats from BBC1 and BBC2 (vaguely on target, but a bit broader than before) should have been the way forward with CBBC only getting the 7pm hour, then BBC3 airing from 8-2am, with 11.30-2am basically a repeat of 9-11.30pm and Top Gear or Don't Tell the Bride repeats airing at 8pm.

P.S. Could the BBC avoid losing the slot on the EPG by tweaking their channel line up before it closes and basically getting the BBC Red Button into the main section of the EPG. If ITV4+1 and ITVBe+1 can be used to claim an LCN despite only broadcasting 4-6am then I see no reason why BBC Red Button can't move from 601 to 9 (or at least 23) considering it has a fuller schedule of programmes.