The BBC has unveiled new proposals for BBC Three, its broadcast youth channel currently being reinvented as an entirely online proposition.
The proposals, which are subject to approval by the BBC Trust, will generate savings of £50m, the Corporation said on Wednesday – £30m of which will be invested in drama on BBC One, with the rest supporting a new iPlayer, including BBC Three online.
BBC Three, which launched in 2003, costs around £75m per year to run, with additional funding secured outside of the licence fee.
Two key editorial pillars have been put on the table – making viewers either ‘think’ or ‘laugh’ – that would see “new forms and formats, different durations, and more individualised and interactive content”.
Children’s programmes on CBBC would be extended by two hours per night as a result of the proposal, which also includes launching a catch-up channel, BBC One + 1.
The BBC said this will help “mitigate any short-term loss in time spent among 16-34 year old audiences, as BBC One still generates the biggest reach among younger audiences.”
BBC Director-General Tony Hall said that with the licence fee frozen the BBC has had to make “difficult” decisions.
“In rising to this challenge, we’ve managed to come up one of the most exciting and ambitious proposals I’ve seen since I came back to the BBC,” he said.
“By searching out new ways to engage and entertain young audiences on their terms, the new BBC Three will be a great example of how we can reinvent the public service for the digital world – using their talent, appearing on the platforms and devices that they use and talking to them as equals and partners.”
Danny Cohen, BBC Director of Television, added: “As a former BBC Three Controller this genuinely wasn’t an easy decision but if ever there’s proof that necessity is the mother of invention, I believe it’s today’s proposal.
“I didn’t want to makes savings by simply salami-slicing again across the board in BBC Television – for me that wasn’t an option.
“I’m truly very excited about the plans we are developing, both in terms of what they will mean for the future of BBC Three and what we can learn to drive the whole of the BBC forward in a time of relentless digital and technological change.
“I don’t want us to sit back as a legacy company and watch as generational change bites away at our impact – I want us to be at the forefront of that change.”
A full explanation behind the proposals, penned by the project lead for the new BBC Three, Damian Kavanagh, can be found here.
