BBC Three is back

[johncrossley]

BBC Three is back. Well, strictly speaking, it never went away. It was online only. But does its return as a linear channel suggest that on demand streaming can never fully replace linear TV?

 

[yorksrob]

I hope we get another series of Scarborough. And Greg Davies The Cleaner.

 

[Ediswan]

BBC Three is back. Well, strictly speaking, it never went away. It was online only. But does its return as a linear channel suggest that on demand streaming can never fully replace linear TV?

The channel is back as HD on Freesat 107. As best as I can tell, actual content starts 1st Feb.

 

[johncrossley]

The channel is back as HD on Freesat 107. As best as I can tell, actual content starts 1st Feb.

It is even in HD on Freeview, channel 109, but not in Scotland and Wales. The SD channel number is 23, meaning that many channels had to shift one number to accommodate it.

 

[LOL The Irony]

They should've never closed it in the first place and this is now just a vein attempt to try and justify the licence fee to younger people.

 

[dk1]

So good to hear. I can’t bear watching anything online.

 

[PTR 444]

The SD channel number is 23, meaning that many channels had to shift one number to accommodate it.

If that is so, why could they not just move it back to SD channel 7 as it was previously. It’s not as if there’s any significant channel there now.

 

[adc82140]

I hardly watch any linear TV these days. It's all either on catchup or streamed on the Sky Q box. The only time I watch normal TV is for live events.

 

[johncrossley]

If that is so, why could they not just move it back to SD channel 7 as it was previously. It’s not as if there’s any significant channel there now.

I presume you call local TV "insignificant" but it would probably be controversial to move them for BBC Three, as many of those channels pounced on channel 7 when it became available. Local TV has been a flop so I personally wouldn't lose any sleep over them having to move channel. Local TV uses 8 in some areas as well so that isn't an option.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jan 2022 ==

I hardly watch any linear TV these days. It's all either on catchup or streamed on the Sky Q box. The only time I watch normal TV is for live events.

That was the reasoning behind BBC Three's move to online only, especially for the younger generation who was the target age of the channel. But it hasn't worked out that way.

 

[LOL The Irony]

But it hasn't worked out that way.

It also lost them the Fox animated sitcoms.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Re-opening night schedule on BBC3 on Tuesday looks decidedly mediocre...

BBC Three - Schedules, Tuesday 1 February 2022

This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Three

www.bbc.co.uk

Guess I'm not really part of their target audience.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I no longer watch live TV at all, but BBC3 is a perfect example for why so many people dislike the BBC.
The channel has nothing but weird shows on the extreme, only trying to push abnormal views and never mentioning traditional views. It's very offensive for the BBC to assume young people are so narrow minded and as stupid as this channel expects them to be.

 

[GusB]

I no longer watch live TV at all, but BBC3 is a perfect example for why so many people dislike the BBC.
The channel has nothing but weird shows on the extreme, only trying to push abnormal views and never mentioning traditional views. It's very offensive for the BBC to assume young people are so narrow minded and as stupid as this channel expects them to be.

What abnormal views do you think they're pushing, and how would you define traditional?

 

[ainsworth74]

The channel has nothing but weird shows on the extreme, only trying to push abnormal views and never mentioning traditional views.

Indeed! Terrible state of affairs. How dare a channel represent a broad selection of views such that the many and varied people that live in the UK can find representation in the media that they consume. Shocking. All media should only feature white, middle class, Christian people in heterosexual relationships who live in bucolic villages in the rolling English countryside. Or something.

 

[skyhigh]

I no longer watch live TV at all, but BBC3 is a perfect example for why so many people dislike the BBC.
The channel has nothing but weird shows on the extreme, only trying to push abnormal views and never mentioning traditional views. It's very offensive for the BBC to assume young people are so narrow minded and as stupid as this channel expects them to be.

Basically could be summarised as 'I don't like this and in my opinion nobody else does'.

Guess we'd better shut down Radio 1 while we're at at, after all that doesn't play proper music

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Indeed! Terrible state of affairs. How dare a channel represent a broad selection of views such that the many and varied people that live in the UK can find representation in the media that they consume. Shocking. All media should only feature white, middle class, Christian people in heterosexual relationships who live in bucolic villages in the rolling English countryside. Or something.

It's not a broad selection for a channel to wholesale ignore all of those groups and many more.
I personally couldn't care less for Middle Class features as BBC show them disproportionately to the population, the entire BBC News team for example.

BBC3 has rubbish shows, there are no crime dramas, there are no science shows, there are no comedies that are family friendly, there are no soaps, there is nothing except short shows promoting people of stereo-typical "millenials" who are stereo-typically portrayed as different.
That's why the channel failed in the first place, the BBC has a weird idea about what young people are like, their stereo-typical view, that is just not the case for most people in that age group who are generally, just like everyone else, a mixed bag.
BBC3 only suits a very small proportion of viewers, also it's filled with low budget and poorly or non-scripted shows,

Basically could be summarised as 'I don't like this and in my opinion nobody else does'.

Guess we'd better shut down Radio 1 while we're at at, after all that doesn't play proper music

The BBC don't really need so many radio stations, the corporation should really be slimming it's content to just one entertainment and one news channel, it wastes so much money by trying to do everything that isn't really needed. At the end of the day, TV Licence payers are being exploited to fund a bloated company that does advertise on TV at home and abroad (don't forget they own UKTV), and they sell shows made with public money for rip-off prices on DVDs and to overseas markets, and they make more money from Britbox showing repeats, while also paying their staff in some cases more than cabinet ministers for un-important roles which cheaper staff could accomplish.

BBC1 is just property shows, Bargain Hunt repeats and Pointless, with parts of the BBC News channel thrown in.
BBC2 is mostly repeats.
BBC3 is just weird shows.
BBC4 is just art snobs being snobbish.
BBC News repeats the same story upto five times because of "reminders of the news" every minute.
BBC America however shows some good shows, but we aren't allowed to see that.

The whole lot is utter rubbish, maybe if everything was condensed onto one channel, it might be worth watching once more.... but I doubt it.

 

[75A]

It's not a broad selection for a channel to wholesale ignore all of those groups and many more.
I personally couldn't care less for Middle Class features as BBC show them disproportionately to the population, the entire BBC News team for example.

BBC3 has rubbish shows, there are no crime dramas, there are no science shows, there are no comedies that are family friendly, there are no soaps, there is nothing except short shows promoting people of stereo-typical "millenials" who are stereo-typically portrayed as different.
That's why the channel failed in the first place, the BBC has a weird idea about what young people are like, their stereo-typical view, that is just not the case for most people in that age group who are generally, just like everyone else, a mixed bag.
BBC3 only suits a very small proportion of viewers, also it's filled with low budget and poorly or non-scripted shows,

The BBC don't really need so many radio stations, the corporation should really be slimming it's content to just one entertainment and one news channel, it wastes so much money by trying to do everything that isn't really needed. At the end of the day, TV Licence payers are being exploited to fund a bloated company that does advertise on TV at home and abroad (don't forget they own UKTV), and they sell shows made with public money for rip-off prices on DVDs and to overseas markets, while also paying their staff in some cases more than cabinet ministers for un-important roles which cheaper staff could accomplish.

Remember that this is where our TV Licence fee goes!

 

[LOL The Irony]

Re-opening night schedule on BBC3 on Tuesday looks decidedly mediocre...

It's all just repeats and nothing that'll interest me, and I'm their target audience! I was going to give it a miss anyways and it looks like I won't be missing out on much. I took a look through the schedule and the only 2 things that were original broadcasts were the Africa Cup of Nations and the Winter Olympics highlights. The best part is, half of their schedule is usually repeating the stuff that was on earlier in the evening!

 

[BluePenguin]

It's all just repeats and nothing that'll interest me, and I'm their target audience! I was going to give it a miss anyways and it looks like I won't be missing out on much. I took a look through the schedule and the only 2 things that were original broadcasts were the Africa Cup of Nations and the Winter Olympics highlights. The best part is, half of their schedule is usually repeating the stuff that was on earlier in the evening!

You don’t want to watch Eating With My Ex?

 

[507020]

It's all just repeats and nothing that'll interest me, and I'm their target audience! I was going to give it a miss anyways and it looks like I won't be missing out on much. I took a look through the schedule and the only 2 things that were original broadcasts were the Africa Cup of Nations and the Winter Olympics highlights. The best part is, half of their schedule is usually repeating the stuff that was on earlier in the evening!

There seems to be a new episode of Eastenders being shown while Winter Olympics coverage is on the main channel, so that counts as original.

 

[GusB]

It's not a broad selection for a channel to wholesale ignore all of those groups and many more.
I personally couldn't care less for Middle Class features as BBC show them disproportionately to the population, the entire BBC News team for example.

The whole point of BBC 3 was that it had a slightly narrower focus, was it not? It targeted a particular age group and wasn't designed to appeal to everyone.

BBC3 has rubbish shows, there are no crime dramas, there are no science shows, there are no comedies that are family friendly, there are no soaps, there is nothing except short shows promoting people of stereo-typical "millenials" who are stereo-typically portrayed as different.

There are crime dramas elsewhere on the BBC, though. I've just finished watching The Responder, for example. Science shows are more likely to be found on BBCs 2 and 4. If it's soaps you want, EastEnders still takes a prime spot on BBC 1, and you have various other programmes like Doctors or Holby City which fall into that category. I'm not sure what your problem with millennials is, either; that age group is probably now getting to the stage when they're no longer the target market for BBC 3 anyway (some of them will be having to endure CBeebies by now, I'd imagine!)

That's why the channel failed in the first place, the BBC has a weird idea about what young people are like, their stereo-typical view, that is just not the case for most people in that age group who are generally, just like everyone else, a mixed bag.
BBC3 only suits a very small proportion of viewers, also it's filled with low budget and poorly or non-scripted shows,

What are young people like, then? Have you been around the UK and conducted a survey of all young people to ascertain what they do like?

There is a lot of stuff on the BBC that doesn't appeal to me personally. I don't like sport, but I'm not going to suggest that Match of the Day or Sportscene be scrapped. I don't expect it to cater to me all of the time.

 

[Welly]

I remember watching some BBC 3 programmes when it was last broadcast such as the Russell Howard Show (which is not family friendly but hilarious!) and I think Killing Eve was broadcast on that channel as well. I was well above the target age group too!

To be honest, it doesn't matter what channel a good TV programme is on as I will watch it - I love the foreign language crime series usually shown on BBC4 at 9pm Saturday nights.

 

[LOL The Irony]

You don’t want to watch Eating With My Ex?

Seems like something you'd find on ITV2 or E4.

 

[dosxuk]

I presume you call local TV "insignificant" but it would probably be controversial to move them for BBC Three, as many of those channels pounced on channel 7 when it became available. Local TV has been a flop so I personally wouldn't lose any sleep over them having to move channel. Local TV uses 8 in some areas as well so that isn't an option.

The local TV channels didn't pounce on the availability of channel 7, it was specifically reserved for them, with plans to move BBC Three to allow them space cancelled as a result of the channel's closure. As a government pet project at the time, local TV had to be given a prominent channel number to justify the amount of cash and licence fee money being thrown at them.

Channel 8 is generally used when channel 7 is not available (e.g. Wales where it is used by Channel 4 Wales and Scotland where it is used by BBC Alba) and is reserved in the same manner.

 

[TheGarner]

BBC Three was never intended to be for everyone - Plus, if you don't like something you aren't bloody forced to watch it.

"The service's remit is to provide "innovative programming" to a target audience of viewers between 16 and 34 years old, leveraging technology as well as new talent. 70% was original, covering all genres, including animation, comedy, current affairs, and drama. "

 

[43096]

BBC Three was never intended to be for everyone - Plus, if you don't like something you aren't bloody forced to watch it.

But we are forced to pay for it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

If that is so, why could they not just move it back to SD channel 7 as it was previously. It’s not as if there’s any significant channel there now.

I'm 98% certain that the person whose job it is to allocate Freeview channel numbers is the same person responsible for new classes on TOPS...

In terms of content, there has been some great shows on BBC3 over the years, such as Sean Lock's "15 Storeys High", and "This Country" which debuted on Online-Only BBC3... However there's also things like "People Just Do Nothing" which had a few great moments but ran for what feels like a decade, meaning the laughs were spread rather too thinly.

Besides, I turn 40 in a couple of weeks, so BBC3 will no longer be suitable for me. That's how it works, right?

 

[JRT]

BBC TWO seems to have gone downhill recently, often showing old music programming à la BBC FOUR, Monday’s quizzes were originally on other channels (BBC ONE, BBC FOUR and er GRANADA).
BBC THREE had some entertaining programmes when it first started but the Monday evening repeats on BBC ONE don't look appealing to me.
BBC FOUR seems to be continuing its remit of providing some culture, foreign language programmes and European feature films at reasonable times 9 pm not in the middle of the night.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

There is a lot of stuff on the BBC that doesn't appeal to me personally. I don't like sport, but I'm not going to suggest that Match of the Day or Sportscene be scrapped. I don't expect it to cater to me all of the time.

Do you think Match of the Day, is value for money though? The sports commentary is hardly any better than what would be found in any White Hart, Albion, Rose and Crown, or King's Arms pubs up and down the country, and yet we all subsidise three pundits who sit in comfy chairs with plenty of hindsight, just to say a linesman has "made a clear mistake" on an offside decision in a fast moving game, it's often insulting the the sport.
Maybe you should be calling for efficiency savings if not a scrapping, the BBC are so wasteful, they are supposed to be a public service, they are not supposed to try and get the most expensive people just to hurt ITV.

 

[ChrisC]

BBC TWO seems to have gone downhill recently, often showing old music programming à la BBC FOUR, Monday’s quizzes were originally on other channels (BBC ONE, BBC FOUR and er GRANADA).
BBC THREE had some entertaining programmes when it first started but the Monday evening repeats on BBC ONE don't look appealing to me.
BBC FOUR seems to be continuing its remit of providing some culture, foreign language programmes and European feature films at reasonable times 9 pm not in the middle of the night.

I also think that BBC2 has gone downhill recently. It used to have some really good quality documentaries and drama but I don’t watch it very much these days.
I always liked BBC4 and watched it a lot. There were some excellent documentaries and music programmes. The recent changes has mainly made it a repeats channel although I must admit some of them are very high quality repeats that haven’t been shown for years and are not available elsewhere. Still worth watching but just a shame the quality documentary content does not seem to have been transferred to BBC2.
I never really saw the point of BBC3 and didn’t watch it much and probably won’t now. Perhaps I’m just too old.
I don’t watch BBC1 as much as I used to but still a few good things there.