I loved the original BBC Three. I found out about a lot of my favourite films through BBC Three along with some comedy shows and Doctor Who Confidential
I think it's due to children (the channel's target audience) not watching terrestrial TV, and watching stuff on RUclips and iPlayer. I think it's just a cost saving measure
Personally, I’m 16 and I watch both CBBC and BBC Three all the time, but I only watch them via the iPlayer as I live in Australia and I can’t access them on traditional TV as much as I would like to. And I know a few friends in the UK who love Three channels like I do but watch them via standard TV, I think for both channels, cutting them from regular TV would be a pretty substantial loss for both youth and older viewers. I get the BBC has to cut back somewhere but it still sucks if cutting their youth channels is the way they go about it .
@EmmaJones925 I am a 16 year old with autism as well and I still watch shows every so often that might be for those who are slightly younger and I completely get that feeling. Please just know you aren’t alone and that there are others who do watch CBBC despite being out of the target demographic, which I think is between 6 or 7 years old to 14 years old. Even now, I still watch a bit of Mr Bean as I grew up with CITV since CBBC didn’t really air a lot of things I like, since most of it was like Tracy Beaker and I wasn’t into that. However, I will give it praise for airing Splatalot, as that show was REALLY good. But have a nice rest of your day and keep safe :)
I do think the problem is the programming. It's no longer putting out the stuff which are making people stop and want to watch. Also I feel like E4 and ITV2 just have stronger outputs that actually appeal to the age demographic not just trhtowing buzzwords to make the next reality show
Australian TV fan here - as you may know, we got rid of our licence fee back in 1974, as it cost more to enforce (rural Australia says hello) than it was taking in.
@marksnow7569 yes, ABC was funded with general revenue from 1974 onwards (SBS didn't exist until 1980) One plus of this was that Australia never had colour licence fees
Part of me wonders how much the BBC looses per year on trying to actually enforce the licence fee. I've said this before, but I'm also Australian and I'll quite frequently tune into the BBC via the iPlayer with a VPN, clearly they've realised it's not worth the effort to enforce the licence fee, as all the iPlayer does is show you a pop-up asking if you have a TV licence, you click "yes, I have a TV licence.", it then goes away and doesn't ask you again for a year on that device. No IP adress checks or home address lookup, one checkbox and it doesn't care from that point on. Nice for respecting user privacy (and for inadvertently making the BBC in its full form available low-income households in the UK and to people all accross the world), awful for actually funding thr BBC.
I'm surprised you bought the idea that the reason they put it online in the first place was because of changing viewing habits etc. It was almost entirely due to the fact they made massive cuts to BBC Three's programming budget - and attempting to continue a linear schedule would only have made that all the more obvious. When they did the u-turn on that, they brought back the channel as well because they could now fill a schedule again. The cost of running the channel itself is minimal compared to the cost of making the programmes. And whilst they're probably disappointed with the live viewing figures, there's probably not much to be saved by ditching it again. It probably will happen at some point anyway, but it's really not that big a deal. Certainly not a VERY BAD IDEA. The big decision they made was to spend more money on programmes for young people, which had to happen. Though whether they're spending it in the right way is debatable..
BBC Three was something I wished for with envy in the early days with all the exciting new programming. By the time we got Freeview down here, the honeymoon period was over but they still had brilliant programmes like Being Human, Mongrels and In the Flesh. Suddenly though it seemed to deliberately become bad and turned into an ITV2 knock-off and I suppose managers thought by the time it went off air people wouldn't particularly miss it by then. I looked forward to the return of BBC Three but to my disappointment it was back to 'self-destruct TV' and was showing the same ITV2 style crap that they were showing towards the first shut down. In The Flesh was a true tragic loss to television not continuing because of a lack of funding (and possibly a reason for the cut in funds due to the fact it was such a good satire on Conservative society).
I use to love watching the documentaries from Stacey Dooley and Reggie Yates and there was that show where groups of guys and girls would go on a holiday and the parents would secretly spy on them. I'm glad it's returned but haven't watched it once as none of the shows really appeal to me and there's a lot more competition nowadays but I hope it lasts for many years to come.
I think BBC Three would be improved if they showed archive content from the Late 90s To the Mid/Late 2000s, Since its targeted for Millennials and Gen Z. It all depends on rights but shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Robot Wars and Old episodes of Top gear, as well as new content which sparks intrest to the vast majority of the audience. It would be cool if they could get the rights to (probably wont or cant) various game shows which are currently not on TV often or not at all, such as Takeshi's Castle, The Crystal maze and Fort Boyard.
Crystal maze was a Channel 4 program, so they can't show repeats unless they pay Channel 4. They could make new episodes if the original production team is interested. Never heard of Fort Boyard, but Google says it's a French program. Takeshi's Castle is owned by TBS, Japanese channel.
@MarkAJAgi Fort Boyard was originally French, however it was shown on the Challenge channel in the early 2000s. (Challenge was owned by Virgin during that time period but is currently owned by Sky) Also, there was a reboot version of the show named as Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge which aired on CITV. So the BBC could potentially pay for some of the rights from ITV (regarding if ITV still own the rights to the reboot) Challenge also had partial rights to repeats of both Takeshi's castle and The Crystal maze during Virgins ownership and when sky took over the channel (during 2011) although Challenge do not show both shows anymore.
I don't see BBC Three being cut from linear TV again, at least not in the near future. One of the main reasons for BBC3's return was the prospect of reaching a wider audience beyond the youth demographic, who watch the channel's content online. Perhaps in the future the remit of the channel could change to serve this new audience
used to watch it all the time back in the day for shows like Family Guy and Little Britain and several great British sitcoms aimed at a youthful audience they had on there so was excited when it got relaunched but tbh I’ve barely watched it since
What’s a bad idea about BBC3 is when they axed it in the first place. I like watching BBC3 because they have great programmes like Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents, Pramface, Family Guy & American Dad.
agree completely - I used to watch BBC3 daily when on TV first time around, but they effectively dismantled any reason to watch by selling off their most popular programmes at the time when they moved it online. I not watched it since which I guess speaks volumes, its not a shadow of what it once was!
Well, as someone who's 30 years past its intended demographic, in June every night when I got back to the hotel in Cardiff it seemed like BBC 3 had the most interesting program coming on. I especially remember that "The Exorcist" was on one night. For various reasons, I had never watched that movie all the way through in the states, so when I saw it on the BBC 3 listing I thought, "this is the night." Especially since I knew BBC 3 wouldn't have commercial interruptions. It took me some time to get used to BBC 3's station identifiers - the handless fingers. Odd.
The only people I know who watch actual TV version of BBC THREE. Are people who want to have family guy on in background at 2am. (Idk if that's even still a thing as most people do this via Disney plus?)
The "A very bad idea" statement feels a bit odd without a question mark on the end! The 16-35 demographic still channel surf in high numbers (Love Island/Britain's Got Talent/etc) and I think they would be silly not to try and claw back at some of that lost ground whilst they still can. It'll likely take a few years to make some impact in that department, but once they get another Fleabag etc they'll find their new audience. 18 months is not very long in TV land. I am sad that "BBC Three" only returned in name compared to the glory days when it was by far my favourite channel, but viewing habits/fashions change and sadly that's the way it is. But I hope it works out for them.
Only the BBC Could piss away £3.7 Billion from the licence fee and another £1.5 Billion from BBC Studios & Overseas sales and have the completely draconian rule that the licence covers all live broadcasted programming, so not just for the BBC's own channels but everyone elses too.
The BBC could easily scale back to just BBC One and BBC Two in terms of linear. Nearly everything from BBC Three and BBC Four would find a natural home on BBC Two, and the archive side of BBC Four would definitely find a natural home on the iPlayer. However, based on that hat, Adam probably used BBC Three about 13 months ago. 😉 If they do want to shut BBC Four and especially CBBC, major questions have to be asked as to why the Scotland channel is still a thing? What is that doing that a returned BBC Two Scotland couldn't? Furthermore, it creates huge headaches for opting out on BBC One Scotland as there's now no BBC Two Scotland where the displaced network programme can be aired instead. It's surely better both economically and operationally?
I remember watching a lot of shows like family guy and American dad on bbc three before it moved to bbc 2 for some odd reason that’s when it all went downhill
Honestly at the time it left I think it had a strong block of programming, especially better than what it has now. I haven't watched since the first day it came back
I am not a youth but a fan of comedy and when it first came out it had some good programmes Nighty Night, 15 Storeys High, Uncle, Cuckoo, Revolution will be Televised, Little Britain, Pulling etc etc etc
I think the reason I’m less fussed about BBC Three than others is that I reached the age when the content it showed (outside of DWC and occasional repeats) was theoretically something I might choose to watch just as it moved somewhere I no longer had a viable way of accessing it. (The television in our house at the time had no Internet connection point, so iPlayer was very much a thing for the computer and nothing else, and I had no available personal technology of my own I could use either.) This meant that the only time I’ve watched it while being within its target demographic was 2016, with the DW spinoff _Class_ (which had to be delayed by several hours until the necessary subtitles were added; still not sure why it took them so long to do that rather-basic job). Even now, we tend to (and I always) use recordings of TV shows rather than catchup services (especially for non-BBC programmes, where they still force you to watch ads every few minutes!) because the signal where we live isn’t up to it (it’s recently been fixed now, though, so I might start using BBC iPlayer more!). TL;DR I’m less bothered about the fate of BBC Three as it switched away from being an actual channel just as I became old enough to be potentially interested in its content.
Actually, I think the pre-2002 multichannel strategy with BBC1 and 2 containing almost all new programming with BBC Choice as the overspill was the best model. But then along came BBC Knowledge which just showed archive programming, and BBC Choice (apart from Liquid News) quickly became rubbish. The decision to launch BBC4 was a bit odd as nothing in the remit of it wouldn't have previously fitted onto BBC2. Although BBC Choice did need to go, the decision to replace it with BBC3 (remember 4 launched before 3!), again with nothing in it's remit having not previously fitted onto BBC2 was again a bit odd. Then we ended up in the somewhat odd position of BBC1 continuing in it's role as being all things to all people with the biggest budget, BBC3 and 4 being position as demographic-focused based channels but with significantly smaller programme budgets than BBC2 which could have served those demographics with better funded programmes. At the time I guess it meant BBC2 could blow everything on Top Gear I suppose. Although possibly defensible in the early 2000's as pre-streaming huge extended channel ranges were all the fashion, I did believe when they decided to close BBC3 in 2016 that this would mark the beginning of a number of closures and by now they would have reverted back to only having BBC1/2, the News Channel and one kids channel. Bringing it back was a bit of an odd move since after any initial outcry it was quickly forgotten about and what were some of the biggest assets like Russell Howard et al have now moved to other broadcasters. On the other hand, perhaps once again being in the position of having BBC1/2/4 but no 3 was seen as looking a bit weak, and if the programme budget was there then relaunching a linear channel would have been of little additional cost so they did it.
Apart from Drag Race UK (although I do watch it on iPlayer), nothing on BBC Three has really jumped out at me, well when it returned to linear television. I loved Fleabag, and in the zeitgeist of BBC Three in the mid-2000s/10s, my mum loved the show Being Human, also Gavin and Stacey (she has a DVD boxset of it somewhere) and I used to obsessively watch Snog Marry Avoid.
My Freeview digibox failed a few years ago so I watch BBC programmes on iPlayer on a PC or my phone. For instance, Not Going Out's new series was all put up at the same time (7 episodes) so I'm not even waiting to watch those when scheduled for broadcast (bar the first episode) but earlier, instead. Not sure how doing that affects the audience ratings figures.
As an Aussie I can't really speak about UK TV, but I have worked in Television here in Australia. I really don't watch much free-to-air TV because it's mostly absolute garbage. Our pay TV service isn't really much better unless you like sport (which I don't). This type of bland, lowest common denominator content is what pushes people - of all ages - to go online and seek entertainment more relevant to their interests. Younger people are more tech savvy then older people, so it's no wonder they like more control over what they watch as opposed to passively watching whatever is being broadcast at the time. I mostly watch youtube as I really can't justify paying for most streaming services as many don't carry content that I'm interested in. They also have the nasty habit of censoring "problematic" content or deleting it from their back catalogues to save on server costs. I much prefer DVDs & Blurays - and yes you may laugh - I used to get snide remarks about buying vinyl back in the day... Now who's laughing? When people tease me about having hard copies of my favourite TV shows, movies and documentaries, I tell them about my copy of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and how they do the director's commentary in character. It's just as funny as - if not funnier than - the show itself. You won't find that on any streaming service.
Stop reminding me of how old I am, Adam! I was 17/18 in 2008! Joking tangents aside though, you make some good points. I don't know why BBC 3 came back, and while I am one of those old-fashioned people who thinks ideologically that everyone should pay for the BBC because it serves everyone even if people don't want it (like the NHS), I get why people are getting rid of their TV licenses. I do still like the hands though.
The last time I watched anything on BBC 3 was when I bought my first set-top box so that I could watch Torchwood. I don't think I've ever watched it since! It may have still been called BBC Choice then, actually.
I think the problem is television has evolved so quickly to the point people can no longer follow. the BBC made a huge gamble with bring back BBC Three but in doing so, they angered many who wanted the channel to stay in the first place. As the masses quit their TV Licences, the BBC keeps having budget problems.
I watch things on my iPad but not through choice. I only do it like that because in registered as severely sight impaired/blind so it’s easier for me to use my iPad to watch the tv or films
The original bbc 3 had the best for young skewed sitcoms and drama and if it had kept up the same quality and consistency online as it had before it would have worked but the frequency of quality content dropped dramatically it’s just send it online and make it cheaper in my opinion anyway
Hot take I actually don't mind the return to form back on TV and the web too, I do enjoy some of their shows and back in 2004/6 when I started watching that channel I watched it on the TV because it was what i'd do, stay up till it came on and watched shows like mighty boosh, gavin an Stacey, two pints, torchwood & don't tell the bride etc... not because i couldn't watch it on the iplayer it was much easier for me to watch on the TV. as and when it was programmed to be aired each program i wanted to watch. BBC 1 was like the main programs big budget, 2 was for comedy and other programs like documentaries etc... that weren't main channel material, and 3 was for testing the waters. Being 28 I still find i'm in the streaming demographic yes but there is such joy to wait for a program to air live and watch live over streaming it live, I only resorted to that when I was somewhere without a TV or the family took over the TV/I missed the live airing. BBC 3 should be back on air and I don't think it's not worth it because there are still numerous people who don't have internet but TV they deserve to watch the programs that are being made for that station. people i know mostly stream for the convenience over anything else, watching things when they can/or watch what they missed, my parents/in laws do this exact same thing but with recording programs on their Virgin box, record things for later viewing if they can't watch live. IMO i'm glad bbc 3 is back on air.
I think a problem with the world right now is marketing is crap right now.. no one knows how to get people interested in anything as it's rich rich people marketing to the normal man. Its all messed up. If BBC marketed this well it would have worked both streaming and TV... I watch TV but I only knew about the channel coming back due to your channel.
Also, the original bbc three was held afloat by Family Guy and American Dad, often havocking their own content between these shows in a desperate attempt to get people to accidentally watch it, or at least leave the set on while they went and did something else.
while it isn't possible for them to bring back those two shows to their channel, they could at least gain the rights and show a different programme of that genre (which, unsurprisingly, they haven't)
I haven't watched BBC three when it came back on TV, just through the iPlayer these days, I do miss the old BBC three especially when they used to show family guy
Firstly, it should have never moved online in the first place. Secondly, given the cuts to the BBC funding with the TV License fee freeze and all that, it made it harder for BBC Three to thrive but, that is only a short-term issue. What they are going to use BBC Three going forward is a platform for imported shows like Traitors and RuPaul's Drag Race and with some Live Events like Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend and things like that. Granted it has been a major victim of timing, but that is not what is going to kill it. BBC Four going online makes sense and as with CBBC going online too, it also makes a massive amount of sense seeing as young kids that CBBC's age range audience is the most likely demographic to use and consume their media on an online platform as many of them have tablets now. BBC Three won't move back online after sinking the millions of pounds it cost to move it back online, they won't. I would see BBC Two being more likely to go online than BBC Three at this point, given the fact that all these issues are largely temporary and are just based on circumstances not a shifting stance towards tastes.
I think the same arguments could made about BBC 4 too. The writing is already on the wall for traditional TV. The only thing holding back online TV is fibre broadband or the lack of it but once full fibre is extended to 99% of the UK you can say goodbye to the likes of Freeview, Freesat, Sky, and Virgin Media. The switch over will happen a lot faster than people realise. I could see Freeview being switched off before 2030 if BT gets its finger out and completes the roll out of Full Fibre broadband services.
it pushed a type of content off the main channels, so yeah something changed in narrowing channels viewpoints. Not just bbc with viewership given more choice, allo ai.
Personally, while I don't watch BBC Three itself anymore (I mean, look at the BBC Three schedule and you'll find you can literally watch an entire night on iPlayer anyway) I don't think closing BBC Three again is going to solve anything. If anything, the argument will be "Well, why did you close the youth channel as it was just getting good?" I think they need to do 3 (ha, get it, because, y'know...) key things to re-attract audiences: 1. Air some BBC One and Two entertainment during peak hours. Graham Norton, Strictly Come Dancing, even Doctor Who which was a mainstay of the original BBC Three. Top Gear and EastEnders are fine and well, but viewers already watch these shows and they don't need a linear channel to repeat it. Hell, EastEnders premieres on iPlayer HOURS BEFORE IT AIRS ON TV. Why not air classics? I think Three viewers would love Red Dwarf if it aired on BBC Three once in a while. Why not air Dave? (the show that's called Dave, not the TV channel) That show was BBC Two, but it really felt BBC Three. 2. Invest heavily in the independent film and TV scene. BBC Three should be the defiant, not the norm, given it's status as being part of the UK's biggest license-fee paid broadcaster. Maybe one night, you can show short student films, animated indie films, etc. BBC Three should be like BBC Four is for arts, but a lot more youthful and full of energy. Not full of depressing documentaries. Create coverage out of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, create coverage out of the university scene, this channel is sorely lacking the involvement of it's viewers. Hell, BBC Scotland runs a operative called "The Social", why are they not adopting that across the UK and FOR BBC Three? 3. Finally, USE BBC THREE FOR EXTRA COVERAGE AGAIN. The reason the original BBC Three did so well was because they were able to attract viewers from events like Glastonbury, or the Olympics, extra football coverage, etc. Why are they not using it to their advantage? Why not cover more music events other TV channels don't cover? Why not air Coachella? Red Button is closing, so it's prime to move a lot of that coverage there. I am well aware that audiences don't watch traditional TV anymore, but covering more niche and engaging youth festivals and events could, in some way or another, turn things around, make viewers more inclined to come back to linear TV and realise why it has the potential to entertain. BBC Three needs a purpose other than being a shop window for the iPlayer.
I still watch it BTW, it has some very good docs and real life series on it,but I do think that the biggest problem with it, is a problem that affect the BBC as a whole, which is bad management
To be honest now that I think about it.......don't you think that maybe this is just a post-coronavirus thing? People are just going out more instead of staying in to watch TV? With quarantine abolished and people no longer work from home with the radio on? I mean Channel 4 has also released it's annual report and they have also noticed that linear TV ratings for the 16-34 demographic have gone down by 6%, but I don't hear people saying that Channel 4's channels should close because of that.....just saying
I was a very big defender of BBC3 when it was a dedicated channel the first time and was sad to see it go and i still believe that it was the wrong decision back then. However, I think the re-launch was a big miscalculation and it shouldn't have come back. They had a decent launch slate but after 3 months the channel was dead again. The Genie was not going back in the bottle. I think the BBC will cling onto BBC3 for another couple of years so the U-Turn doesn't look so dramatic, but BBC3's days as a broadcast channel are numbered.
BBC Three lost 89% of it's audience when it went online only, I know that for many people the ratings now that it has come back are not good, but they are still a lot better then when it was ''online only''
When it launched in 2003, I'd never miss Liquid News with the late (much missed) Christopher Price, the blobs (the original idents) and it was much better then. Was looking forward to seeing it return and have been thoroughly disappointed. The idents and those stupid hands and the programmes don't come close to the way they were before Tony Hall stupidly switched it off.
Very rarely watched it since it left TV initially. Never watched the online version and besides the repeats of top gear and the recent bad education (which wasn't very good after the first episode) I have barely watched the new incarnation. Just seems like a copy of itv 2 (though that sometimes has something I might watch pop up) with too many reality shows like that dating one recently with Danni minogue. Was a fairly regular watcher back when the likes of family guy, American dad, pramface, Torchwood (1-2), Russell Howard, Cuckoo etc were on.
6:08 "You do you." he says. Errr, what if I only want to watch Sky sports and nothing on the decrepit old aunty bbc? Can I just 'do me' in that case or would I be forced by law to pay for 10 tv channels I don't want? How is that "You do you" exactly? Do Coca Cola insist I buy a couple cans of theirs every time I go buy a bottle of Pepsi? Do Google insist I buy an Android phone or 2 every time I buy an iPhone? How about "You do some research and find out the facts" before pretending like this is a free market and we all get to make our own choices.
Watched Original BBC Three as a Kid usually showed the repeat of the new episodes of the new series of Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond and May. Occasionally it showed the World Cup and Euros or Other Sport and I would Occasionally watch some documentaries but I was very young then. BBC Three is now Occasionally Simucast onto BBC1 Or was I had the misfortune of watching Drag Race I had no idea what it was and saw these Bright Colours. It did the show the First NBA Game I had seen on Terrioristal TV in the Chicago Bulls Vs Detroit Pistons match in Paris. And it showed some Commenwealth Games events my local games notably Basketball and It did show the African Cup Of Nations. I think it did used to show repeats of Midweek Match Of The Days. The Only time I universally watch Linear TV at it's scheduled time is for Match Of The Day at 22:30PM, Football and Occasionally Stuff like Rugby, Glastonbury and other stuff. Which BBC Three did used to Air to.
They should’ve never axed BBC3 to begin with. The original BBC3 used to be one of my most watched channels, I don’t recall watching a single thing after it relaunched.
I'm still paying my tv licence but I don't watch any live bbc channels I don't even use I player there's alot of crap on tv now do I need to pay tv licenc3 if I don't watch,bbc in fact tv channel's have gone from worse to worse. I wouldn't go back to watching itv or bbc
The BBC should have an archive channel that shows the old content without any cuts or warnings, if people want to watch the content they will, Britbox is old content shown on the BBC and ITV more than 12 months ago it's just a pity they axed some content because it doesn't fit the woke agenda of today. Loads of old shows used the N word frequently but now that part of the show will be edited out or the whole episode will be cut.
I think that being edited on TV is a good thing. Outside of educational content we shouldn't be airing these things without warning, we'd be encouraging the casual racism. Allow the full unedited versions on streaming
I don't agree. The 9PM rule sounds like a good compromise, & not everyone has good enough Internet access. I don't think they should be deprived of the proper versions. Some people are happy to watch censored media, but it's a fundamentally flawed way of watching content. I personally am not interested in watching cut content, & that includes content with a cropped aspect ratio.
I think it was a really bad idea when it moved online CBBC increased it's hours ending at 9pm instead of 7pm as CBBC viewers simply do not go to bed at 7pm
CBBC and BBC Three should merge for childrens content during the day and BBC Three content at night under one linear channel. I like some of BBC Three's content, its the only BBC stuff I can receive that I watch anyway. Maybe its time for the BBC to go altogether?
Why don't you do a video on oaps being forced to pay when government have back control to state broadcaster.. And why are threats sent out . Bet you don't reply . If you don't use it why are they allowed to send threats
I remember the weekly BARB listings, it was always three programmes that consistently made the top ten every week - Family Guy, American Dad and the EastEnders repeat. All three no longer feature on BBC Three. The way things are going, the BBC is repositioning itself as an online only broadcaster. Particularly in a post licence fee world. It focuses heavily on iPlayer and Sounds.
Not surprising as there was a considerable amount of people back in the day that only watched BBC Three for those two shows and didn't care about anything else. Still the case with ITV2 these days as well.
Agreed. BBC Three before it went away introduced me to a lot of my favourite films. It would show random good movies on Saturday nights. Stuff like Kung Fu Panda and Tropic Thunder
Good Discussion you started, I don't really watch tv as I use to, and I feel like most Teenagers (unless their power is down or a trendy show is on the channel) usually move to the internet and streaming for their entertainment. You could apply the same for kids with the rise of short form content and such.
I'm in the same situation as you for BBC Three, nothing has appealed to me since it's TV return. It's missing so much of that target age group by focusing on reality like shows. It certainly has never catered for me. Whilst I personally prefer linear TV to streaming, I think the BBC Three / Four grouping of channels should end. My idea would be to axe those two channels along with CBBC and the Red Button service. I'm sure more room could be found on BBC One and Two to fill gaps. Kids TV should on BBC One to give it the prominence it deserves. One doesn't at all cater at all for the young atm. iPlayer is more than suitable for when CBBC is off-air. BBC Four is nearly all repeats which can move to iPlayer or room could be found on BBC One or Two. Or why not combine BBC Three, Four, CBBC and Red Button into a single channel? I think if you balance it right, there's enough broadcast time for everything, whilst saving a bit of money.
Roll on 2028. Of there ever was a reason to axe the fee, BBC3 is it. Too many channels when private competition can fill the gap. How on earth in this day and age can the beeb justify their ridiculous number of channels, radio stations, news and websites.
I think BBC 3 can work today. Anime on it definitely fits the idea and subverts the idea of it equalling to Pokemon. The Witch of Mercury has given the Gundam series a MASSIVE boost in popularity, along with people watching more anime, with ITVX having an dedicatied anime collection. This can drive youth viewership as well as showcasing the best of Japanese animation. Plus, showing Doctor Who and other shows does help. Because of it, I am a sci-fi fan. In my opinion, the problem isn't the channel. It's the person who is behind it. She's too fucking loyal to RuPaul's franchise and too faithful to a dutch format and no, it's not Big Brother. Fire her and get someone that can do those things.
Totally can get behind the anime thing, but I also love Drag Race too. I vaguely remember that when it was BBC Choice, it had a Japanese themed night and they aired an episode of Urusei Yatsura (dubbed with British accents, the voice cast of it starred such names as Matt Lucas and Anna Friel). I could see the anime thing working.
The biggest problem with the New BBC Three is that all their shows have there full series on iPlayer right after episode 1 airs plus with BBC One airing them only days after they air on Three it begs the question why bring back BBC Three if they are going to put Full Series on iPlayer and still put episodes on BBC One like when it was online?
Never been a fan of BBC Three although it has produced some good output. I don't fit the target audience for the channel and really don't understand why they reintroduced it to linear TV. Exactly the opposite applies to BBC Four. One of my favourite channels and very popular with the older generations, some of which will be unable to access it once it goes online only (terrible idea). I'm hoping they will row back on that plan.
Yeah I think it makes sense for bbc3 to just go back to an online only thing. Tbh, there are only a handful of linear tv channels (at least om feeeview) that really need to exist imo. They being: Bbc1 Bbc2 Itv1 Channel4 Channel 5 Itv2 Cebeebies Bbc news Another news channel for balance (pick ur poison) Challenge....lol Honestly though, with streaming so prevalent now a hell of a lot of these repeats channels make no sense to me. Successful Bbc3 online content can easily be expanded on bbc1 or 2, cbbc the same bur bring back a mid afternoon schedule to bbc1 or 2, and bbc4 content can easily slot into bbc2.
Remeber when bbc knowledge become three back in the early days of digital tv. now bbc 3 is just not as good as it used to be. bbc should move bbc4 bbc3 to online only due to license fee freeze. bbc1 and bbc2 should be linear due to PSB rules
So why have BBC Three and BBC Four any point in churning out extra channels ...What was wrong with BBC Choice...Bring BBC Choice Back mix it with programming that BBC Three and Four airs and get rid BBC Three and Four I'd prefer original BBC Choice from the late 90s
Why the hell they put BBC 3 on linear and move CBBC (a family channel where kids and parents can spend time together) and BBC 4 (a channel mainly geared at * older * more niche audiences) onto digital, it makes absolutely no sense... 😤
seems to me like this channel is losing its intended audience, without it, they will eventually have to cut it for cost. G4TV here in America tried to come back after a 10-year hiatus and fell apart almost completely within a few months because they lost their way. (it was also a giant cash grab so that didn't help either)
A very good video. I think that the question should not be the continuation of BBC Three on linear TV, but the continuation of the BBC being given a License Fee subscription to provide the channels they do. I am over 70 and from a generation who used to sit and watch tv as a family group, all watching the same limited selection of programmes. Today the modern consumer, including myself tend to watch programmes when we want to, not when they are broadcast. More of us do not even wish to watch what the terrestial stations broadcast at all or very few of their content. The choices offered by subscription enables us to select the type and time of viewing to suit our lifestyles. The days when the BBC provided an unbiased set of programmes including news has gone. You can view the type of programmes on the BBC on so many other services now and the quality of the news presentation is as poor as you can watch on any other channel. I choose to use iplayer whilst it is included in the License fee for a small selection of programmes that appeal to me. I watch some other free streaming channels and subscribe to Disney and Prime. This suits my needs. If the BBC became a non- License subsidised service and charged a subscription the only service I would be willing to subscribe to would be iplayer. If the BBC pitched their subscriptions at a sensible level I am sure they would attract many subscribers, but they would be choosing to subscribe or not.
I'm 30 so i'm still part of the targeted audience but there has been nothing on the channel that has grabbed my attention. The only couple of times i've watched bbc 3 has been when they show films. BBC 3 use to be my go to for the likes of family guy, american dad, little Britain(a comedy i watched with my late nan) torchwood and doctor who confidential as well as repeats of episodes of the main show. The stuff bbc 3 show on there now is just cringe and not funny. Get rid of bbc 3 again i say and keep bbc 4 because i have watched that more, especially with them airing older shows, heck even a repeat of noel's house party last year which i enjoyed and brought back some great memories of saturday night viewing. One thing would be nice for bbc 3 to do is a behind the scenes stuff for the upcoming new series of gladiators.
For me, BBC Three and BBC Four are not needed anymore. Both channels are only on air after 7pm until the early hours, and both are a waste of public money. The new programming on BBC Three should be placed on BBC Two, as BBC Two has become a wasteland, hardly anything new on it. BBC Two used to be the home for alternative comedy and drama, but now it's repeat land. Closing BBC Three and Four, diverting money and programming to BBC Two is the best solution.
I loved the original BBC Three. I found out about a lot of my favourite films through BBC Three along with some comedy shows and Doctor Who Confidential
same
I loved the channel when it was originally on. Apart from Stacey Dooley and the reunion episode of Bad Education there’s nothing worth watching on it.
Fr
I’m a adult with Autism, who at times watches CBBC, how they can think about axing CBBC and keeping a channel nobody watches is madness
I think it's due to children (the channel's target audience) not watching terrestrial TV, and watching stuff on RUclips and iPlayer. I think it's just a cost saving measure
@@Fredsterface I agree I was born in 74, most of what I watch is 80s/90s
Personally, I’m 16 and I watch both CBBC and BBC Three all the time, but I only watch them via the iPlayer as I live in Australia and I can’t access them on traditional TV as much as I would like to. And I know a few friends in the UK who love Three channels like I do but watch them via standard TV, I think for both channels, cutting them from regular TV would be a pretty substantial loss for both youth and older viewers. I get the BBC has to cut back somewhere but it still sucks if cutting their youth channels is the way they go about it .
@EmmaJones925 I am a 16 year old with autism as well and I still watch shows every so often that might be for those who are slightly younger and I completely get that feeling. Please just know you aren’t alone and that there are others who do watch CBBC despite being out of the target demographic, which I think is between 6 or 7 years old to 14 years old. Even now, I still watch a bit of Mr Bean as I grew up with CITV since CBBC didn’t really air a lot of things I like, since most of it was like Tracy Beaker and I wasn’t into that. However, I will give it praise for airing Splatalot, as that show was REALLY good. But have a nice rest of your day and keep safe :)
@@darkenedgold2390 thank you so much for the message, we are often seemed as odd but people just don’t get it
I do think the problem is the programming. It's no longer putting out the stuff which are making people stop and want to watch.
Also I feel like E4 and ITV2 just have stronger outputs that actually appeal to the age demographic not just trhtowing buzzwords to make the next reality show
Thats exactly what I think the issue is.
Australian TV fan here - as you may know, we got rid of our licence fee back in 1974, as it cost more to enforce (rural Australia says hello) than it was taking in.
So you replaced it with a slice of money for ABC & SBS from general taxation
@marksnow7569 yes, ABC was funded with general revenue from 1974 onwards (SBS didn't exist until 1980)
One plus of this was that Australia never had colour licence fees
@@SenhorBundyTechnically speaking it’s not even a “colour licence fee” it’s the regular (b&w) TV licence with a colour supplement.
@stickytapenrust6869 thanks for that, you learn something new every day - Australians still avoided the extra licence charge
Part of me wonders how much the BBC looses per year on trying to actually enforce the licence fee. I've said this before, but I'm also Australian and I'll quite frequently tune into the BBC via the iPlayer with a VPN, clearly they've realised it's not worth the effort to enforce the licence fee, as all the iPlayer does is show you a pop-up asking if you have a TV licence, you click "yes, I have a TV licence.", it then goes away and doesn't ask you again for a year on that device. No IP adress checks or home address lookup, one checkbox and it doesn't care from that point on. Nice for respecting user privacy (and for inadvertently making the BBC in its full form available low-income households in the UK and to people all accross the world), awful for actually funding thr BBC.
I'm surprised you bought the idea that the reason they put it online in the first place was because of changing viewing habits etc. It was almost entirely due to the fact they made massive cuts to BBC Three's programming budget - and attempting to continue a linear schedule would only have made that all the more obvious. When they did the u-turn on that, they brought back the channel as well because they could now fill a schedule again.
The cost of running the channel itself is minimal compared to the cost of making the programmes. And whilst they're probably disappointed with the live viewing figures, there's probably not much to be saved by ditching it again. It probably will happen at some point anyway, but it's really not that big a deal. Certainly not a VERY BAD IDEA. The big decision they made was to spend more money on programmes for young people, which had to happen.
Though whether they're spending it in the right way is debatable..
And because they're scrapping BBC Four.
BBC Three was something I wished for with envy in the early days with all the exciting new programming. By the time we got Freeview down here, the honeymoon period was over but they still had brilliant programmes like Being Human, Mongrels and In the Flesh.
Suddenly though it seemed to deliberately become bad and turned into an ITV2 knock-off and I suppose managers thought by the time it went off air people wouldn't particularly miss it by then.
I looked forward to the return of BBC Three but to my disappointment it was back to 'self-destruct TV' and was showing the same ITV2 style crap that they were showing towards the first shut down. In The Flesh was a true tragic loss to television not continuing because of a lack of funding (and possibly a reason for the cut in funds due to the fact it was such a good satire on Conservative society).
I use to love watching the documentaries from Stacey Dooley and Reggie Yates and there was that show where groups of guys and girls would go on a holiday and the parents would secretly spy on them. I'm glad it's returned but haven't watched it once as none of the shows really appeal to me and there's a lot more competition nowadays but I hope it lasts for many years to come.
I think BBC Three would be improved if they showed archive content from the Late 90s To the Mid/Late 2000s, Since its targeted for Millennials and Gen Z.
It all depends on rights but shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Robot Wars and Old episodes of Top gear, as well as new content which sparks intrest to the vast majority of the audience.
It would be cool if they could get the rights to (probably wont or cant) various game shows which are currently not on TV often or not at all, such as Takeshi's Castle, The Crystal maze and Fort Boyard.
Crystal maze was a Channel 4 program, so they can't show repeats unless they pay Channel 4.
They could make new episodes if the original production team is interested.
Never heard of Fort Boyard, but Google says it's a French program.
Takeshi's Castle is owned by TBS, Japanese channel.
@MarkAJAgi
Fort Boyard was originally French, however it was shown on the Challenge channel in the early 2000s. (Challenge was owned by Virgin during that time period but is currently owned by Sky)
Also, there was a reboot version of the show named as Fort Boyard: Ultimate Challenge which aired on CITV.
So the BBC could potentially pay for some of the rights from ITV (regarding if ITV still own the rights to the reboot)
Challenge also had partial rights to repeats of both Takeshi's castle and The Crystal maze during Virgins ownership and when sky took over the channel (during 2011) although Challenge do not show both shows anymore.
@@v.i.i.p.e.rFort Boyard was first shown on Channel 5 in the UK and was based on a French programme
@@carlbradley3627 Yes because the Fort itself is near France
The problem is most shows the target demographic is interested in are on other channels or on a streaming service
I miss the old BBC Three
I don't see BBC Three being cut from linear TV again, at least not in the near future. One of the main reasons for BBC3's return was the prospect of reaching a wider audience beyond
the youth demographic, who watch the channel's content online. Perhaps in the future the remit of the channel could change to serve this new audience
Aye but it's been cut all BBC has others saying not but it has
used to watch it all the time back in the day for shows like Family Guy and Little Britain and several great British sitcoms aimed at a youthful audience they had on there so was excited when it got relaunched but tbh I’ve barely watched it since
What’s a bad idea about BBC3 is when they axed it in the first place. I like watching BBC3 because they have great programmes like Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents, Pramface, Family Guy & American Dad.
agree completely - I used to watch BBC3 daily when on TV first time around, but they effectively dismantled any reason to watch by selling off their most popular programmes at the time when they moved it online. I not watched it since which I guess speaks volumes, its not a shadow of what it once was!
I remember the days when BBC Three used to show Wallace and Gromit cartoons. Takes me back
Yeah, it's a shame that BBC Three ended up getting reduced to this after so long on the air.
Well, as someone who's 30 years past its intended demographic, in June every night when I got back to the hotel in Cardiff it seemed like BBC 3 had the most interesting program coming on. I especially remember that "The Exorcist" was on one night. For various reasons, I had never watched that movie all the way through in the states, so when I saw it on the BBC 3 listing I thought, "this is the night." Especially since I knew BBC 3 wouldn't have commercial interruptions.
It took me some time to get used to BBC 3's station identifiers - the handless fingers. Odd.
The only people I know who watch actual TV version of BBC THREE. Are people who want to have family guy on in background at 2am.
(Idk if that's even still a thing as most people do this via Disney plus?)
The "A very bad idea" statement feels a bit odd without a question mark on the end! The 16-35 demographic still channel surf in high numbers (Love Island/Britain's Got Talent/etc) and I think they would be silly not to try and claw back at some of that lost ground whilst they still can. It'll likely take a few years to make some impact in that department, but once they get another Fleabag etc they'll find their new audience. 18 months is not very long in TV land.
I am sad that "BBC Three" only returned in name compared to the glory days when it was by far my favourite channel, but viewing habits/fashions change and sadly that's the way it is. But I hope it works out for them.
Personally, I think BBC4 should stay on terrestrial TV, because that channel is aimed at the older demographic.
But it's just filled with repeats. Yes, it can be cheap to run airing no new programming, but it's a channel which has died.
@@johnking5174 Probably BBC Four content will be moved to BBC Two, likely after the Newsnight slot
Only the BBC Could piss away £3.7 Billion from the licence fee and another £1.5 Billion from BBC Studios & Overseas sales and have the completely draconian rule that the licence covers all live broadcasted programming, so not just for the BBC's own channels but everyone elses too.
The BBC could easily scale back to just BBC One and BBC Two in terms of linear. Nearly everything from BBC Three and BBC Four would find a natural home on BBC Two, and the archive side of BBC Four would definitely find a natural home on the iPlayer.
However, based on that hat, Adam probably used BBC Three about 13 months ago. 😉
If they do want to shut BBC Four and especially CBBC, major questions have to be asked as to why the Scotland channel is still a thing? What is that doing that a returned BBC Two Scotland couldn't? Furthermore, it creates huge headaches for opting out on BBC One Scotland as there's now no BBC Two Scotland where the displaced network programme can be aired instead. It's surely better both economically and operationally?
I remember watching a lot of shows like family guy and American dad on bbc three before it moved to bbc 2 for some odd reason that’s when it all went downhill
They need to turn it back into a solid hub for Comedy.
Honestly at the time it left I think it had a strong block of programming, especially better than what it has now. I haven't watched since the first day it came back
I am not a youth but a fan of comedy and when it first came out it had some good programmes Nighty Night, 15 Storeys High, Uncle, Cuckoo, Revolution will be Televised, Little Britain, Pulling etc etc etc
I think the reason I’m less fussed about BBC Three than others is that I reached the age when the content it showed (outside of DWC and occasional repeats) was theoretically something I might choose to watch just as it moved somewhere I no longer had a viable way of accessing it. (The television in our house at the time had no Internet connection point, so iPlayer was very much a thing for the computer and nothing else, and I had no available personal technology of my own I could use either.)
This meant that the only time I’ve watched it while being within its target demographic was 2016, with the DW spinoff _Class_ (which had to be delayed by several hours until the necessary subtitles were added; still not sure why it took them so long to do that rather-basic job).
Even now, we tend to (and I always) use recordings of TV shows rather than catchup services (especially for non-BBC programmes, where they still force you to watch ads every few minutes!) because the signal where we live isn’t up to it (it’s recently been fixed now, though, so I might start using BBC iPlayer more!).
TL;DR I’m less bothered about the fate of BBC Three as it switched away from being an actual channel just as I became old enough to be potentially interested in its content.
Actually, I think the pre-2002 multichannel strategy with BBC1 and 2 containing almost all new programming with BBC Choice as the overspill was the best model. But then along came BBC Knowledge which just showed archive programming, and BBC Choice (apart from Liquid News) quickly became rubbish. The decision to launch BBC4 was a bit odd as nothing in the remit of it wouldn't have previously fitted onto BBC2. Although BBC Choice did need to go, the decision to replace it with BBC3 (remember 4 launched before 3!), again with nothing in it's remit having not previously fitted onto BBC2 was again a bit odd. Then we ended up in the somewhat odd position of BBC1 continuing in it's role as being all things to all people with the biggest budget, BBC3 and 4 being position as demographic-focused based channels but with significantly smaller programme budgets than BBC2 which could have served those demographics with better funded programmes. At the time I guess it meant BBC2 could blow everything on Top Gear I suppose. Although possibly defensible in the early 2000's as pre-streaming huge extended channel ranges were all the fashion, I did believe when they decided to close BBC3 in 2016 that this would mark the beginning of a number of closures and by now they would have reverted back to only having BBC1/2, the News Channel and one kids channel. Bringing it back was a bit of an odd move since after any initial outcry it was quickly forgotten about and what were some of the biggest assets like Russell Howard et al have now moved to other broadcasters. On the other hand, perhaps once again being in the position of having BBC1/2/4 but no 3 was seen as looking a bit weak, and if the programme budget was there then relaunching a linear channel would have been of little additional cost so they did it.
Apart from Drag Race UK (although I do watch it on iPlayer), nothing on BBC Three has really jumped out at me, well when it returned to linear television. I loved Fleabag, and in the zeitgeist of BBC Three in the mid-2000s/10s, my mum loved the show Being Human, also Gavin and Stacey (she has a DVD boxset of it somewhere) and I used to obsessively watch Snog Marry Avoid.
@@Richard-bl5yr Those bloody beanie hats haunt my nightmares looking back.
World's Craziest Fools was CLASS
The perfect comment I’ve seen about it was: left when we cared, returned when we didn’t
BBC Three has a lot of great programmes, shame they never air them.
My Freeview digibox failed a few years ago so I watch BBC programmes on iPlayer on a PC or my phone. For instance, Not Going Out's new series was all put up at the same time (7 episodes) so I'm not even waiting to watch those when scheduled for broadcast (bar the first episode) but earlier, instead. Not sure how doing that affects the audience ratings figures.
As an Aussie I can't really speak about UK TV, but I have worked in Television here in Australia. I really don't watch much free-to-air TV because it's mostly absolute garbage. Our pay TV service isn't really much better unless you like sport (which I don't).
This type of bland, lowest common denominator content is what pushes people - of all ages - to go online and seek entertainment more relevant to their interests. Younger people are more tech savvy then older people, so it's no wonder they like more control over what they watch as opposed to passively watching whatever is being broadcast at the time.
I mostly watch youtube as I really can't justify paying for most streaming services as many don't carry content that I'm interested in.
They also have the nasty habit of censoring "problematic" content or deleting it from their back catalogues to save on server costs.
I much prefer DVDs & Blurays - and yes you may laugh - I used to get snide remarks about buying vinyl back in the day... Now who's laughing?
When people tease me about having hard copies of my favourite TV shows, movies and documentaries, I tell them about my copy of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and how they do the director's commentary in character. It's just as funny as - if not funnier than - the show itself. You won't find that on any streaming service.
Stop reminding me of how old I am, Adam! I was 17/18 in 2008!
Joking tangents aside though, you make some good points. I don't know why BBC 3 came back, and while I am one of those old-fashioned people who thinks ideologically that everyone should pay for the BBC because it serves everyone even if people don't want it (like the NHS), I get why people are getting rid of their TV licenses.
I do still like the hands though.
The hands do remind me of Thing from the Addams Family, that's probably why I like them.
The last time I watched anything on BBC 3 was when I bought my first set-top box so that I could watch Torchwood. I don't think I've ever watched it since! It may have still been called BBC Choice then, actually.
I think the problem is television has evolved so quickly to the point people can no longer follow.
the BBC made a huge gamble with bring back BBC Three but in doing so, they angered many who wanted the channel to stay in the first place.
As the masses quit their TV Licences, the BBC keeps having budget problems.
I watch things on my iPad but not through choice. I only do it like that because in registered as severely sight impaired/blind so it’s easier for me to use my iPad to watch the tv or films
The original bbc 3 had the best for young skewed sitcoms and drama and if it had kept up the same quality and consistency online as it had before it would have worked but the frequency of quality content dropped dramatically it’s just send it online and make it cheaper in my opinion anyway
Hot take I actually don't mind the return to form back on TV and the web too, I do enjoy some of their shows and back in 2004/6 when I started watching that channel I watched it on the TV because it was what i'd do, stay up till it came on and watched shows like mighty boosh, gavin an Stacey, two pints, torchwood & don't tell the bride etc... not because i couldn't watch it on the iplayer it was much easier for me to watch on the TV. as and when it was programmed to be aired each program i wanted to watch.
BBC 1 was like the main programs big budget, 2 was for comedy and other programs like documentaries etc... that weren't main channel material, and 3 was for testing the waters.
Being 28 I still find i'm in the streaming demographic yes but there is such joy to wait for a program to air live and watch live over streaming it live, I only resorted to that when I was somewhere without a TV or the family took over the TV/I missed the live airing.
BBC 3 should be back on air and I don't think it's not worth it because there are still numerous people who don't have internet but TV they deserve to watch the programs that are being made for that station.
people i know mostly stream for the convenience over anything else, watching things when they can/or watch what they missed, my parents/in laws do this exact same thing but with recording programs on their Virgin box, record things for later viewing if they can't watch live.
IMO i'm glad bbc 3 is back on air.
Exactly!
I think a problem with the world right now is marketing is crap right now.. no one knows how to get people interested in anything as it's rich rich people marketing to the normal man. Its all messed up. If BBC marketed this well it would have worked both streaming and TV... I watch TV but I only knew about the channel coming back due to your channel.
THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER
"BBC THREE WAS A VERY BAD IDEA"
no shit...
Also, the original bbc three was held afloat by Family Guy and American Dad, often havocking their own content between these shows in a desperate attempt to get people to accidentally watch it, or at least leave the set on while they went and did something else.
while it isn't possible for them to bring back those two shows to their channel, they could at least gain the rights and show a different programme of that genre (which, unsurprisingly, they haven't)
I haven't watched BBC three when it came back on TV, just through the iPlayer these days, I do miss the old BBC three especially when they used to show family guy
BBC Three was just a mess. It left telly too early but came back way too late.
it was good when the only show they played each day was two pints of lager and a packet of crisps
I've actually watched more Live TV than streaming service. Slightly outside 35.
Firstly, it should have never moved online in the first place. Secondly, given the cuts to the BBC funding with the TV License fee freeze and all that, it made it harder for BBC Three to thrive but, that is only a short-term issue. What they are going to use BBC Three going forward is a platform for imported shows like Traitors and RuPaul's Drag Race and with some Live Events like Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend and things like that.
Granted it has been a major victim of timing, but that is not what is going to kill it. BBC Four going online makes sense and as with CBBC going online too, it also makes a massive amount of sense seeing as young kids that CBBC's age range audience is the most likely demographic to use and consume their media on an online platform as many of them have tablets now.
BBC Three won't move back online after sinking the millions of pounds it cost to move it back online, they won't. I would see BBC Two being more likely to go online than BBC Three at this point, given the fact that all these issues are largely temporary and are just based on circumstances not a shifting stance towards tastes.
BBC Three - showing US Shark Tank, Top Gear and Two Pints - im not sure this is what the target demographic want to watch
Has it failed? I'm 19 and I still enjoy it. And a lot of the content on there is loved beyond that of Freeview.
BBC Three still better than ITV2 and their obsession with Love Island
@@xaviniestahernandez5041 bbc three just has really good documentaries and comedy. it's a good blend of what i've been hoping for in content.
I forgot that it was back on Linear tv
Wasn’t happy when it went online only back in the day.
I think the same arguments could made about BBC 4 too.
The writing is already on the wall for traditional TV. The only thing holding back online TV is fibre broadband or the lack of it but once full fibre is extended to 99% of the UK you can say goodbye to the likes of Freeview, Freesat, Sky, and Virgin Media. The switch over will happen a lot faster than people realise. I could see Freeview being switched off before 2030 if BT gets its finger out and completes the roll out of Full Fibre broadband services.
They’ve completely misunderstood what people wanted from the return, all of the classics like family guy and stuff that we grew up with!
it pushed a type of content off the main channels, so yeah something changed in narrowing channels viewpoints. Not just bbc with viewership given more choice, allo ai.
Personally, while I don't watch BBC Three itself anymore (I mean, look at the BBC Three schedule and you'll find you can literally watch an entire night on iPlayer anyway) I don't think closing BBC Three again is going to solve anything. If anything, the argument will be "Well, why did you close the youth channel as it was just getting good?"
I think they need to do 3 (ha, get it, because, y'know...) key things to re-attract audiences:
1. Air some BBC One and Two entertainment during peak hours. Graham Norton, Strictly Come Dancing, even Doctor Who which was a mainstay of the original BBC Three. Top Gear and EastEnders are fine and well, but viewers already watch these shows and they don't need a linear channel to repeat it. Hell, EastEnders premieres on iPlayer HOURS BEFORE IT AIRS ON TV. Why not air classics? I think Three viewers would love Red Dwarf if it aired on BBC Three once in a while. Why not air Dave? (the show that's called Dave, not the TV channel) That show was BBC Two, but it really felt BBC Three.
2. Invest heavily in the independent film and TV scene. BBC Three should be the defiant, not the norm, given it's status as being part of the UK's biggest license-fee paid broadcaster. Maybe one night, you can show short student films, animated indie films, etc. BBC Three should be like BBC Four is for arts, but a lot more youthful and full of energy. Not full of depressing documentaries. Create coverage out of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, create coverage out of the university scene, this channel is sorely lacking the involvement of it's viewers. Hell, BBC Scotland runs a operative called "The Social", why are they not adopting that across the UK and FOR BBC Three?
3. Finally, USE BBC THREE FOR EXTRA COVERAGE AGAIN. The reason the original BBC Three did so well was because they were able to attract viewers from events like Glastonbury, or the Olympics, extra football coverage, etc. Why are they not using it to their advantage? Why not cover more music events other TV channels don't cover? Why not air Coachella? Red Button is closing, so it's prime to move a lot of that coverage there.
I am well aware that audiences don't watch traditional TV anymore, but covering more niche and engaging youth festivals and events could, in some way or another, turn things around, make viewers more inclined to come back to linear TV and realise why it has the potential to entertain.
BBC Three needs a purpose other than being a shop window for the iPlayer.
I still watch it BTW, it has some very good docs and real life series on it,but I do think that the biggest problem with it, is a problem that affect the BBC as a whole, which is bad management
To be honest now that I think about it.......don't you think that maybe this is just a post-coronavirus thing? People are just going out more instead of staying in to watch TV? With quarantine abolished and people no longer work from home with the radio on? I mean Channel 4 has also released it's annual report and they have also noticed that linear TV ratings for the 16-34 demographic have gone down by 6%, but I don't hear people saying that Channel 4's channels should close because of that.....just saying
I was a very big defender of BBC3 when it was a dedicated channel the first time and was sad to see it go and i still believe that it was the wrong decision back then.
However, I think the re-launch was a big miscalculation and it shouldn't have come back. They had a decent launch slate but after 3 months the channel was dead again. The Genie was not going back in the bottle.
I think the BBC will cling onto BBC3 for another couple of years so the U-Turn doesn't look so dramatic, but BBC3's days as a broadcast channel are numbered.
BBC Three lost 89% of it's audience when it went online only, I know that for many people the ratings now that it has come back are not good, but they are still a lot better then when it was ''online only''
When it launched in 2003, I'd never miss Liquid News with the late (much missed) Christopher Price, the blobs (the original idents) and it was much better then. Was looking forward to seeing it return and have been thoroughly disappointed. The idents and those stupid hands and the programmes don't come close to the way they were before Tony Hall stupidly switched it off.
Very rarely watched it since it left TV initially. Never watched the online version and besides the repeats of top gear and the recent bad education (which wasn't very good after the first episode) I have barely watched the new incarnation. Just seems like a copy of itv 2 (though that sometimes has something I might watch pop up) with too many reality shows like that dating one recently with Danni minogue. Was a fairly regular watcher back when the likes of family guy, American dad, pramface, Torchwood (1-2), Russell Howard, Cuckoo etc were on.
not even started the video yet this better mention two pints of lager and a packet of crisps
The original version was great however the new version does not have any programs of interest to me
6:08 "You do you." he says. Errr, what if I only want to watch Sky sports and nothing on the decrepit old aunty bbc? Can I just 'do me' in that case or would I be forced by law to pay for 10 tv channels I don't want? How is that "You do you" exactly? Do Coca Cola insist I buy a couple cans of theirs every time I go buy a bottle of Pepsi? Do Google insist I buy an Android phone or 2 every time I buy an iPhone? How about "You do some research and find out the facts" before pretending like this is a free market and we all get to make our own choices.
Watched Original BBC Three as a Kid usually showed the repeat of the new episodes of the new series of Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond and May. Occasionally it showed the World Cup and Euros or Other Sport and I would Occasionally watch some documentaries but I was very young then. BBC Three is now Occasionally Simucast onto BBC1 Or was I had the misfortune of watching Drag Race I had no idea what it was and saw these Bright Colours. It did the show the First NBA Game I had seen on Terrioristal TV in the Chicago Bulls Vs Detroit Pistons match in Paris. And it showed some Commenwealth Games events my local games notably Basketball and It did show the African Cup Of Nations. I think it did used to show repeats of Midweek Match Of The Days. The Only time I universally watch Linear TV at it's scheduled time is for Match Of The Day at 22:30PM, Football and Occasionally Stuff like Rugby, Glastonbury and other stuff. Which BBC Three did used to Air to.
It's been around since 03?? Could have sworn it was longer. I think it was called BBC choice before- maybe that's why
They should’ve never axed BBC3 to begin with.
The original BBC3 used to be one of my most watched channels, I don’t recall watching a single thing after it relaunched.
I'm still paying my tv licence but I don't watch any live bbc channels I don't even use I player there's alot of crap on tv now do I need to pay tv licenc3 if I don't watch,bbc in fact tv channel's have gone from worse to worse.
I wouldn't go back to watching itv or bbc
since the relaunch of three I have never seen anything worth watching on there.
The BBC should have an archive channel that shows the old content without any cuts or warnings, if people want to watch the content they will, Britbox is old content shown on the BBC and ITV more than 12 months ago it's just a pity they axed some content because it doesn't fit the woke agenda of today. Loads of old shows used the N word frequently but now that part of the show will be edited out or the whole episode will be cut.
I think that being edited on TV is a good thing. Outside of educational content we shouldn't be airing these things without warning, we'd be encouraging the casual racism. Allow the full unedited versions on streaming
@@turnonmyaxel Warnings are fine (it keeps the outrage brigade quiet) but cutting it is ridiculous unless its being shown before 9 PM.
I don't agree. The 9PM rule sounds like a good compromise, & not everyone has good enough Internet access. I don't think they should be deprived of the proper versions.
Some people are happy to watch censored media, but it's a fundamentally flawed way of watching content.
I personally am not interested in watching cut content, & that includes content with a cropped aspect ratio.
I think it was a really bad idea when it moved online CBBC increased it's hours ending at 9pm instead of 7pm as CBBC viewers simply do not go to bed at 7pm
No don't what more ads on BBC
If anyone wants a good few arguments for the licence fee: No adverts, David Firth and Sam Hyde.
CBBC and BBC Three should merge for childrens content during the day and BBC Three content at night under one linear channel. I like some of BBC Three's content, its the only BBC stuff I can receive that I watch anyway.
Maybe its time for the BBC to go altogether?
Couldn't you have chosen a better title like ''BBC Three 1 Year On: Was it a Bad Idea?''
Probably 😂 hindsight is a wonderful thing!
@@AdamMartyn Well said Adam, I do hope that the title I suggested is used, I think it would bring you more views
I only use bbc three for recording people just do nothing
BBC removed so many good shows from bbc iplayer aswell like life on Mars or anything to do with limmy
Why don't you do a video on oaps being forced to pay when government have back control to state broadcaster.. And why are threats sent out . Bet you don't reply . If you don't use it why are they allowed to send threats
The only good thing about BBC Three is the Eurovision semi finals.
Which were on BBC one this year. Maybe it'll remain that way due to the increased popularity of Eurovision
And it was brought back lacking what it had before. No Eastenders at 10 and Family guy gone elsewhere.
ITV have family guy
I remember the weekly BARB listings, it was always three programmes that consistently made the top ten every week - Family Guy, American Dad and the EastEnders repeat. All three no longer feature on BBC Three.
The way things are going, the BBC is repositioning itself as an online only broadcaster. Particularly in a post licence fee world. It focuses heavily on iPlayer and Sounds.
Not surprising as there was a considerable amount of people back in the day that only watched BBC Three for those two shows and didn't care about anything else. Still the case with ITV2 these days as well.
@@Connie_TinuityError Though ITV2 also currently has Love Island, which, as I'm sure you're aware, is insanely popular.
EastEnders still repeats on BBC Three
I like the films they air although sadly the last time they aired a animated family film was December 😕 I still like the channel though
My opinion I think It was great to relaunch bbc three
Agreed. BBC Three before it went away introduced me to a lot of my favourite films. It would show random good movies on Saturday nights. Stuff like Kung Fu Panda and Tropic Thunder
What was the first animated family film to air on bbc three
i am 37 and do watch bbc three however i watch through iplayer i dont watch on tv
The BBC is ruining Three, again... Just like Nintendo, who ruined the Mario Sports series thanks to Mario Tennis Ultra Smash!
Good Discussion you started, I don't really watch tv as I use to, and I feel like most Teenagers (unless their power is down or a trendy show is on the channel) usually move to the internet and streaming for their entertainment. You could apply the same for kids with the rise of short form content and such.
I haven’t watched bbc3 live since it restarted I have only watched it for Glastonbury this year. I watched most of my BBC content online.
I'm in the same situation as you for BBC Three, nothing has appealed to me since it's TV return. It's missing so much of that target age group by focusing on reality like shows. It certainly has never catered for me.
Whilst I personally prefer linear TV to streaming, I think the BBC Three / Four grouping of channels should end. My idea would be to axe those two channels along with CBBC and the Red Button service. I'm sure more room could be found on BBC One and Two to fill gaps. Kids TV should on BBC One to give it the prominence it deserves. One doesn't at all cater at all for the young atm. iPlayer is more than suitable for when CBBC is off-air. BBC Four is nearly all repeats which can move to iPlayer or room could be found on BBC One or Two.
Or why not combine BBC Three, Four, CBBC and Red Button into a single channel? I think if you balance it right, there's enough broadcast time for everything, whilst saving a bit of money.
The BBC should axe unwatched and unneeded surplus services that nobody watches or listens to like the BBC Scotland channel and BBC Radio Cymru 2
Do quest 2017 idents-the ident review
BBC 3 was a waste of a return like it just doesn't produce great content anymore.
Roll on 2028. Of there ever was a reason to axe the fee, BBC3 is it. Too many channels when private competition can fill the gap. How on earth in this day and age can the beeb justify their ridiculous number of channels, radio stations, news and websites.
I think BBC 3 can work today. Anime on it definitely fits the idea and subverts the idea of it equalling to Pokemon. The Witch of Mercury has given the Gundam series a MASSIVE boost in popularity, along with people watching more anime, with ITVX having an dedicatied anime collection. This can drive youth viewership as well as showcasing the best of Japanese animation. Plus, showing Doctor Who and other shows does help. Because of it, I am a sci-fi fan.
In my opinion, the problem isn't the channel. It's the person who is behind it. She's too fucking loyal to RuPaul's franchise and too faithful to a dutch format and no, it's not Big Brother. Fire her and get someone that can do those things.
Totally can get behind the anime thing, but I also love Drag Race too. I vaguely remember that when it was BBC Choice, it had a Japanese themed night and they aired an episode of Urusei Yatsura (dubbed with British accents, the voice cast of it starred such names as Matt Lucas and Anna Friel). I could see the anime thing working.
@@sophie_drachen Yeah, just no British accents.
Anime is a brilliant idea. There isn't any anime on TV outside from a couple on kids tv so that would be amazing.
Yeah BBC Three can go for me, the novelty of it wore off so long ago ❤❤
The biggest problem with the New BBC Three is that all their shows have there full series on iPlayer right after episode 1 airs plus with BBC One airing them only days after they air on Three it begs the question why bring back BBC Three if they are going to put Full Series on iPlayer and still put episodes on BBC One like when it was online?
I'm still surprised that BBC Three and BBC Four haven't become one channel, maybe name it something like "BBC Extra".
BBC 3
Never been a fan of BBC Three although it has produced some good output. I don't fit the target audience for the channel and really don't understand why they reintroduced it to linear TV. Exactly the opposite applies to BBC Four. One of my favourite channels and very popular with the older generations, some of which will be unable to access it once it goes online only (terrible idea). I'm hoping they will row back on that plan.
Yeah I think it makes sense for bbc3 to just go back to an online only thing.
Tbh, there are only a handful of linear tv channels (at least om feeeview) that really need to exist imo. They being:
Bbc1
Bbc2
Itv1
Channel4
Channel 5
Itv2
Cebeebies
Bbc news
Another news channel for balance (pick ur poison)
Challenge....lol
Honestly though, with streaming so prevalent now a hell of a lot of these repeats channels make no sense to me. Successful Bbc3 online content can easily be expanded on bbc1 or 2, cbbc the same bur bring back a mid afternoon schedule to bbc1 or 2, and bbc4 content can easily slot into bbc2.
There is somthing more relaxing about not always choosing what to watch tho.
@@L1am21 I guess, but maybe a streaming service on shuffle by genre?
@L1am21 actually also add Talking Pictures TV to my list. Fantastic old film archival channel
Remeber when bbc knowledge become three back in the early days of digital tv. now bbc 3 is just not as good as it used to be. bbc should move bbc4 bbc3 to online only due to license fee freeze. bbc1 and bbc2 should be linear due to PSB rules
So why have BBC Three and BBC Four any point in churning out extra channels ...What was wrong with BBC Choice...Bring BBC Choice Back mix it with programming that BBC Three and Four airs and get rid BBC Three and Four I'd prefer original BBC Choice from the late 90s
Why the hell they put BBC 3 on linear and move CBBC (a family channel where kids and parents can spend time together) and BBC 4 (a channel mainly geared at * older * more niche audiences) onto digital, it makes absolutely no sense... 😤
seems to me like this channel is losing its intended audience, without it, they will eventually have to cut it for cost. G4TV here in America tried to come back after a 10-year hiatus and fell apart almost completely within a few months because they lost their way. (it was also a giant cash grab so that didn't help either)
A very good video. I think that the question should not be the continuation of BBC Three on linear TV, but the continuation of the BBC being given a License Fee subscription to provide the channels they do. I am over 70 and from a generation who used to sit and watch tv as a family group, all watching the same limited selection of programmes. Today the modern consumer, including myself tend to watch programmes when we want to, not when they are broadcast. More of us do not even wish to watch what the terrestial stations broadcast at all or very few of their content. The choices offered by subscription enables us to select the type and time of viewing to suit our lifestyles. The days when the BBC provided an unbiased set of programmes including news has gone. You can view the type of programmes on the BBC on so many other services now and the quality of the news presentation is as poor as you can watch on any other channel. I choose to use iplayer whilst it is included in the License fee for a small selection of programmes that appeal to me. I watch some other free streaming channels and subscribe to Disney and Prime. This suits my needs. If the BBC became a non- License subsidised service and charged a subscription the only service I would be willing to subscribe to would be iplayer. If the BBC pitched their subscriptions at a sensible level I am sure they would attract many subscribers, but they would be choosing to subscribe or not.
I'm 30 so i'm still part of the targeted audience but there has been nothing on the channel that has grabbed my attention. The only couple of times i've watched bbc 3 has been when they show films. BBC 3 use to be my go to for the likes of family guy, american dad, little Britain(a comedy i watched with my late nan) torchwood and doctor who confidential as well as repeats of episodes of the main show. The stuff bbc 3 show on there now is just cringe and not funny. Get rid of bbc 3 again i say and keep bbc 4 because i have watched that more, especially with them airing older shows, heck even a repeat of noel's house party last year which i enjoyed and brought back some great memories of saturday night viewing. One thing would be nice for bbc 3 to do is a behind the scenes stuff for the upcoming new series of gladiators.
For me, BBC Three and BBC Four are not needed anymore. Both channels are only on air after 7pm until the early hours, and both are a waste of public money. The new programming on BBC Three should be placed on BBC Two, as BBC Two has become a wasteland, hardly anything new on it. BBC Two used to be the home for alternative comedy and drama, but now it's repeat land. Closing BBC Three and Four, diverting money and programming to BBC Two is the best solution.