Following the news that the BBC is to axe its flagship youth and comedy channel, BBC Three, the Corporation has announced that half of the channel’s budget will be invested into BBC One drama programmes.
In plans outlined by director general Tony Hall, BBC Three will become a wholly online channel, saving the Corporation over £50 million a year.
Moving BBC Three to the iPlayer service is expected to see its overall cost reduced from £90 million to £25 million, while some of its programming moves to other channels.
Lord Hall said that the BBC Three’s content budget currently stands at £50 million, and that £30 million will be handed over to BBC One to increase its drama output.
However, Hall said that this is not the end of the service, rather “the beginning of a new BBC Three”.
“This has been a historic decision because this is the first time we’ve asked a channel to transform itself to meet the needs of audiences in the future,” he said in an interview with BBC News.
“Inevitably, people will move into [the] online environment and I want to ensure we better serve them,” he said, adding that cutting BBC Three would make room for a BBC+1 channel and an evening extension of CBBC.
Asked if BBC Four was now safe, Hall said: “No BBC budget is safe. It all depends on how we manage to balance the books over the coming years.”
Danny Cohen, director of BBC television said it was the biggest strategic decision the BBC has made in over a decade.
“While it has been an extremely difficult decision born out of financial necessity, I believe it is also a creatively energising and innovative move,” he said.
“In autumn 2015 we plan to close BBC Three as a linear TV Channel and in its place we will develop a bold, ambitious, future-facing new version of BBC Three online. I think this can be transformational for both the BBC’s relationship with young audiences and the BBC’s approach to the digital age overall.
“When we take BBC Three online we need to see it as a brand new service launch. It is an opportunity for both radical thinking and unprecedented collaboration both inside the BBC and with our audiences and creative partners outside the corporation.”
Matt Lucas, who launched Little Britain on BBC3, said that the move would be “really bad for new comedy.”
