BBC3 is being restored as a channel in January having been axed five years ago. Programming will air 7pm-4am, the same hours as previously, with CBBC sacrificing the two evening hours it took when BBC3 was closed.
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HOORAY! NO MORE DEAD AIR ON THE CHANNEL SPACE!
Gotta go through Ofcom though, bet that won’t work.
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Wow!! What a back flip. Should not have been axed in the first place.
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I’m not sure why it needs to be a broadcast channel. The demo it’s aimed at 16-34 - chooses to views the vast majority of TV via streaming platforms not broadcast. They’re turning it back to a linear broadcast channel - when their demo is clearly telling them that’s not how they consume content
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…why wouldn’t it?
Their demo isn’t streaming BBC Three on iPlayer, but they are watching ITV2 on linear TV.
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Yeah, this strikes me as a road block move more than anything. If your competitor is there, you have to be there as well and BBC probably has a mandate to feed that audience on every screen.
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Exactly - quoting from the press release announcing BBC Three’s linear return (emphasis added):
While the BBC does well with large parts of the younger audience - on average, young adults in the UK spend more media time per week (seven and a half hours) with BBC’s services than any other brand; our research identified a significant group of younger viewers who maintain a strong linear TV habit but are currently light users of the BBC. We want to change that.
That and (to perhaps a lesser extent) BBC Three’s budget being doubled explains why the backflip has been made
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Of course 16-39s are sometimes watching linear TV - iTv2 has a non stop schedule of Love Island Australia and Family Guy (also on ITV hub for streaming)
I guess if you have the right shows they come to you. But that demo does prefer to watch shows via streaming
That makes sense
They are watching married at first sight Australia on e4 and family guy on iTv2
It’s the programming.
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Also flagship BBC3 content does not perform that well when scheduled in primetime on BBC1. The documentaries do OK, but something like Normal People, supposedly the breakout BBC3 hit of last year, struggled to attract more than 2m in the 9pm hour on BBC1 (granted it probably got the 9pm hour due to Covid). On BBC3 as a linear service although it would likely get half that figure in the context of how digital channels perform it would be seen as a much bigger hit.
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No surprises there. It was always going to do extremely well in the ratings.
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The BBC has ordered a new 2x60min BBC Two series about the relationship between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the media. Both programs will be hosted by the broadcaster’s Media Editor Amol Rajan.
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The British really can’t seem to get enough of Megxit, can they?
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The British Media can’t. The public I’m not so sure.
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EDIT: series 6 will be streamed on Britbox in Australia, with the first two episodes available from April 1.
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Mmm… a new show about hair restoration. I don’t think there has been a show about this on American TV either.
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Sounds riveting. Why has there never been a show about male pattern baldness before? Outrageous.
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We are really hitting bottom of the barrel here.
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The UK has some dreary programs on air all the time, it’s very dire sometimes.
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