BBC3 TV to go onto the i-Player to save costs.

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Has anyone with any views on this matter ?

 

[transmanche]

Has anyone with any views on this matter ?

I don't see how it'll get anywhere near enough the reported £100million savings the BBC needs to make.

I suspect that a lot of people will say they won't miss it; saying that all of its programmes are rubbish or that they don't watch it anyway. But the BBC is meant to serve people of all ages and diverse tastes. So just because you or I don't watch or like a particular a programme or channel, it doesn't mean that it deserves to be scrapped.

(For example; I never listen to Radio 1, Radio 1xtra, Radio 3 or the Asian Network. But I'm glad they are there, to be enjoyed by the many people who do listen to them.)

 

[user15681]

I can understand the motives behind this. The prime audience for BBC Three is young people, 18-30 probably, whom are ever more turning to watch shows online on catch up services. Whilst I'd prefer to be able to watch shows on TV sometimes, it does make sense I guess and will save some money a year for the BBC. I don't watch BBC Three all that often, but I won't be put off having to go online to watch it.

 

[sutty]

I'd feel comfortable saying that it won't happen. It has to pass through the BBC trust first. They're there to look after the viewers and listeners concerns.

Remember 6Music a few years back?

 

[SS4]

It makes sense but I worry about those people who do not have the bandwidth to stream iPlayer. I don't watch much in the way of BBC3 but I'm glad it's there still. ITV2 on the other hand...

 

[Qwerty133]

Wrong decision completely, will just encourage people of my age to watch reality junk like TOWIE and illegally watch American programmes.
BBC3 does show a lot of reality crap, but also shows documentaries and political programming of which there are none or very few on commercial channels aimed at the same demographic. Also with getting rid of BBC3 TV young people will not see the point in the TV licence if all BBC programmes are aimed at under 10s or over 35s and many will not ever buy a TV licence. If the BBC had to close a channel it should have been BBC4 as most of the more successful programmes move to BBC2 anyway and the others are quite specialised or very old (Only Connect is moving to BBC2 later this year).
I feel it is important to make it clear that although I am at the bottom end of BBC3s demographic (16), I do a few watch programmes on BBC4 and do not watch much TV anyway so any channel closing wouldn't really affect me.

 

[bicbasher]

I don't see how it'll get anywhere near enough the reported £100million savings the BBC needs to make.

From what I've read elsewhere, scrapping BBC Three will save £90m.

It's bad news, young people already feel disenfranchised and axing the only public service channel for them is another stab in the back.

It's fair to say some of the names of the programmes, such as Snog, Marry, Avoid and Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents are hardly quality programming, they've made some decent documentaries, the comedy has been good on the whole (except Two Pints of Lager and Coming of Age) and give young people a voice to debate political issues.

Leaving youth television to ITV2 and E4 who show US imports and Celebrity Juice which is pure dirge, is bad for the British television industry.

 

[BlueFox]

If the BBC had to close a channel it should have been BBC4

BBC 4 is a really cheap channel to run as it's mainly archive stuff and low budget documentaries. Closing it would save just a fraction of the amount closing BBC 3 will.
Although I watch BBC 4 more than any other channel I think it falls well short of what could be done. The BBC have a huge archive of stuff they could show but seem to show the same things again and again.

 

[user15681]

To clarify as a few people have mentioned it.

Budgets...
BBC One - £1,051m
BBC Two - £415m
BBC Three - £85m
BBC Four - £49m
CBBC - £79m
CBeebies - £29m
BBC News Channel - £53m
BBC Parliament - £2m

 

[transmanche]

From what I've read elsewhere, scrapping BBC Three will save £90m.

BBC 4 is a really cheap channel to run as it's mainly archive stuff and low budget documentaries. Closing it would save just a fraction of the amount closing BBC 3 will.

According to the BBC, the channel budgets for the current financial year are:

• BBC Three: £85million
• BBC Four: £49million

So perhaps not as small a fraction as it may first appear.

But what puzzles me is; if moving BBC Three to online-only saves £90million, just how much of the annual budget is spent on transmission costs? And bearing in mind it shares 'bandwidth' with one of the BBC's childrens' channels... how much money will really be saved without cutting virtually all the programming too?

 

[CallySleeper]

But what puzzles me is; if moving BBC Three to online-only saves £90million, just how much of the annual budget is spent on transmission costs? And bearing in mind it shares 'bandwidth' with one of the BBC's childrens' channels... how much money will really be saved without cutting virtually all the programming too?

Agreed. How much money will be saved by going online only? IMO, Nick Grimshaw's contract should be terminated with immediate effect. That should save some £££

 

[SS4]

Agreed. How much money will be saved by going online only? IMO, Nick Grimshaw's contract should be terminated with immediate effect. That should save some £££

I'd be more interested in seeing how many people they send to Brazil

 

[CallySleeper]

I'd be more interested in seeing how many people they send to Brazil

Aye, but that will be aside from cutting BBC3 budget though won't it?

 

[Yew]

A,lot of the American imports are not available on iplayer

 

[90sWereBetter]

Being as someone who's in the target age group for BBC3, I sincerely hope the BBC rethink their decision. That said though, from reading a load of tweets, I appear to be in a very small minority of young people who actually like BBC4. So yeah.

It's blindingly obvious anyway - to save money, cut the bonuses for the directors instead of screwing over an age group.

Here's hoping we get an outcry like that which saved BBC 6 Music.

 

[Lampshade]

The BBC has around 100 executives on six figure salaries, just goes to show that the people at the top are never the ones to be affected by cuts.

 

[starrymarkb]

According to the BBC, the channel budgets for the current financial year are:

• BBC Three: £85million
• BBC Four: £49million

So perhaps not as small a fraction as it may first appear.

But what puzzles me is; if moving BBC Three to online-only saves £90million, just how much of the annual budget is spent on transmission costs? And bearing in mind it shares 'bandwidth' with one of the BBC's childrens' channels... how much money will really be saved without cutting virtually all the programming too?

Probably not that much as their bandwidth bill will increase dramatically. Though I wonder if IPTV is scalable. I mean how much does transmitting BBC Three cost when it's using shared BBC Transponders/Transmitters. (On Freeview the BBC have a single frequency at each mast/tower for all their channels, they also run the Freeview HD frequency)

I understood the highest transmission cost would be all the BBC One regions on the Astra Satellites.

 

[Liam]

Rarely watch anything on BBC 3, but interested in what will happen to programmes which are not available on iPlayer?

 

[maniacmartin]

Going iPlayer only frees up that bandwidth on the terrestrial transmitters, which can be flogged off to the highest bidder to put another channel there. I can easily see that being worth tens of millions of £ a year. The companies behind things like pick tv and others would no doubt be interested.

BBC don't own the transmitters any more - it was all privatised and sold off.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Probably not that much as their bandwidth bill will increase dramatically.

Not as much as you might think. BBC peer (connect) directly to many UK internet service providers directly, so neither party has to pay for IP transit for traffic between them.

As to BBC3 itself, I've never found anything good on it to watch. I wonder if this is the first stage in a plan to wind it down completely?

 

[Qwerty133]

Going iPlayer only frees up that bandwidth on the terrestrial transmitters, which can be flogged off to the highest bidder to put another channel there. I can easily see that being worth tens of millions of £ a year. The companies behind things like pick tv and others would no doubt be interested.

BBC don't own the transmitters any more - it was all privatised and sold off.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Not as much as you might think. BBC peer (connect) directly to many UK internet service providers directly, so neither party has to pay for IP transit for traffic between them.

As to BBC3 itself, I've never found anything good on it to watch. I wonder if this is the first stage in a plan to wind it down completely?

Pick TV is owned by sky, who are not interested in anymore capacity on freeview (and are currently offering the least attractive channels they can as they are obliged to provide some). If it was sold off it would in all likelihood end up as a shopping channel.

 

[richw]

I've just realised all the BBC3 programmes I've watched in recent times have been watched on Iplayer at a later time than broadcast, how will this save money as surely they'll still be making the programmes?

 

[transmanche]

Going iPlayer only frees up that bandwidth on the terrestrial transmitters, which can be flogged off to the highest bidder to put another channel there.

That would require some sort of approval from OFCOM.

 

[Butts]

Has anyone with any views on this matter ?

Yes, the licence fee should not have been frozen.

 

[Clip]

Oh well bang goes late night drunken watching repeats of Family Guy and American Dad then.

 

[user15681]

Oh well bang goes late night drunken watching repeats of Family Guy and American Dad then.

This is unbelievably true, I hadn't considered that initially.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Yes, the licence fee should not have been frozen.

It should have been further reduced and watching "Bargain Hunt" 5 times daily made a condition of being allowed to have a licence...

Stands back anxiously should clip see this posting..

 

[bicbasher]

This article on the Media UK website, puts a claim of £1.4m to stream BBC Three.

http://www.mediauk.com/tv/discussio...goes-online-only-but-how-does-this-save-money

 

[Clip]

It should have been further reduced and watching "Bargain Hunt" 5 times daily made a condition of being allowed to have a licence...

Stands back anxiously should clip see this posting..

Its only on once a day Paul, unless you are like me and like to watch some repeats over on the Yesterday channel when nowt else is on on the afternoon

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Its only on once a day Paul, unless you are like me and like to watch some repeats over on the Yesterday channel when nowt else is on on the afternoon

Indeed so. Tim Wonnacott has such a Svengali-like presence that it just seems like it is on five times daily..

 

[Clip]

Ha ha you know you love it really - you still watch it!!