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BBC Three boss says his channel is simply “re-inventing itself” as it goes online-only

By | Published on Monday 30 November 2015

BBC Three

The boss of BBC Three has put a positive spin on the news that the youth channel will definitely go online-only next spring in a cost-saving move that was approved by the BBC Trust last week.

BBC bosses announced plans last year to take BBC Three off conventional broadcast networks, and – unlike previous attempts by bosses at the Beeb to save money by shutting down entire channels – this one has been green-lighted. Possibly because the brand will live on via the web and the iPlayer. Possibly because its audience and supporters – youth and, particularly, the comedy community – are not as strong a lobby as those who fought for 6 Music and the Asian Network.

But BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanagh says that the changes being made to his channel have been misrepresented. “BBC Three is not closing”, he insisted in a blog post. “We are re-inventing online. We will not be a scheduled 7pm to 4am linear broadcast TV channel but we will be everywhere else giving you the freedom to choose what to watch when you want”.

Listing the various online channels where BBC Three will still be available, Kavanagh then adds that the station’s full-length original programming will also be shown on either BBC One or BBC Two, one of the BBC Trust’s conditions for the revamp.

“Creatively we are in great shape”, Kavanagh goes on. “Our ‘Under The Skin’ and ‘Breaking The Mould’ seasons have received critical acclaim from audiences and media. Teachers are showing Professor Green’s film on male suicide in schools and we have had similar requests from organisations that want to include ‘Is This Rape?’ as part of training programmes. We’ve also had an incredible response to our new shows like ‘Asian Provocateur’, ‘Josh’ and ‘Murder In Succesville'”.

Kavanagh, and senior management at the Corporation, argue that BBC Three’s target audience watch more TV through the internet now anyway, so it makes sense for the youth channel to be the first to go online-only. Which is true to an extent, though it seems unlikely the shift would be happening on this timeline if the Beeb didn’t need to make significant cost savings.

BBC Three isn’t only losing its conventional broadcast channel, its budgets are being slashed too. It remains to be seen if Kavanagh can retain the output of original programming of which he is so proud with considerably less cash. And then if BBC Three can drive audiences to its online hubs to consume the content they can afford to create.

For younger consumers in the mobile device YouTube-centric age, so called linear TV services are becoming less and less relevant.

Though anecdotal research suggests that, actually, for some younger consumers at least, one of the attractions of BBC Three was its conventional format, in that many viewers connected to the brand late at night when they were bored of chatting and clicking online, and simply wanted some light entertainment to flow into their minds with minimum effort on their part. And in those moments, the BBC had an opportunity to capture an audience it is otherwise struggling to reach.

So, on that modest budget, Kavanagh may not just have to find the money to continue commissioning innovative original programming, but also to fund some decent marketing to hook viewers in. It remains to be seen how the re-invention turns out.



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