BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target audience. It covers all genres including particularly new comedies, drama, LGBTQ+ programmes, music, fashion, documentaries, brief news, adult animation, and drama series. The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBBC (which starts at 7:00 am).
BBC Three is the BBC's youth-orientated television channel, its remit to provide "innovative programming" to a target audience of viewers between 16 and 34 years old, leveraging technology as well as new talent. Unlike its commercial rivals, 90% of BBC Three's output originated from the United Kingdom. Notable exceptions were Family Guy and American Dad (both of them originating in the United States). It and sister channel BBC Four also carry occasional BBC Sport programming as an overflow for the BBC's other channels.
Following budget cuts at the BBC, the first iteration of the linear channel closed in February 2016, despite public opposition, with the channel continuing as on-demand content only within BBC iPlayer. It returned to broadcast television in the form of a late-night strand on BBC One on Monday to Wednesday nights since 4 March 2019. On 2 March 2021, the BBC confirmed that it planned to relaunch BBC Three's linear television channel in 2022 subject to regulatory approval, which was approved in November that year.
History
Original run
thumb|Logo used from 2003 to 2008
thumb|Logo used from 2008 to 2016
In mid-2000, the BBC decided to reposition and rebrand their two digital channels so that they could be more closely linked to the well established BBC One and BBC Two. Their plan was for BBC Knowledge to be replaced with BBC Four (which took place in 2002) and for BBC Choice to be replaced with BBC Three. Stuart Murphy was appointed its controller on 8 December. However, questions were raised over the proposed format of the new BBC Three, as some thought the new format would be too similar to the BBC's commercial rivals, namely ITV2 & E4 at the time. It would be unnecessary competition. Whilst BBC Four, the BBC's proposed children's channels and digital radio stations all received approval, the BBC Three plans were rejected in September 2001.
The channel was eventually given the go ahead, eleven months after the original launch date on 17 September 2002, following a change to the remit of the channel where a 15-minute news programme and an altered target age range of 25-34 audiences. BBC Three was launched on 9 February 2003. The channel was launched by Stuart Murphy, who previously ran BBC Choice, and before that UK Play, the now-discontinued UKTV music and comedy channel. At 33, Murphy was still the youngest channel controller in the country, a title he had held since launching UK Play at the age of 26; although on 20 October 2005 it was announced that Murphy was soon to leave the channel to work in commercial television.
On 12 May 2011, BBC Three was added to the Sky EPG in the Republic of Ireland on channel 229. It was later moved to channel 210 on 3 July 2012, to free up space for new channels.
For the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics, BBC Three increased its broadcasting hours to 24 hours to provide extra coverage of Olympic events. Broadcast hours were extended again for the 2014 Commonwealth Games with BBC Three broadcasting from 9:00 am to 4:00 am for the duration of the games. On 16 July 2013 the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC Three would be launched by early 2014. The channel launched on 10 December 2013.
The former controller of the station, Zai Bennett, left to join Sky Atlantic in July 2014, at which point BBC Three commissioner Sam Bickley became acting controller.
Replacement by Internet service
Proposal
In February 2014 at the Oxford Media Conference, BBC Director-General Tony Hall stated that as part of the ongoing "Delivering Quality First" initiative at the corporation (which, as motivated by the government freeze of television licence fee costs, aims to reach £700 million in cost-savings across the BBC up to the end of the 2016–17 television season), the BBC was in the process of finalising plans to make another £100 million in cuts to be announced the following month. Believing that general budget cuts across the entire corporation would compromise the quality of its in-house productions—especially dramas, which he described as being the "essence" of the BBC—Hall stated that these cuts could require "hard decisions" to be made. He explained that the corporation had "reached the point where salami-slicing would affect quality and distinctiveness. Rather than seek to preserve a less good version of our past, we decided to focus on what we do best: from drama to taking iPlayer into the next generation."
On 5 March 2014, the BBC announced several cost-savings proposals, subject to the approval of the BBC Trust. Among them were plans to discontinue BBC Three as a television channel, and convert it into an online service. In its proposal, the BBC stated that while motivated by financial considerations, the conversion was a "future-facing move" that would "develop a ground-breaking new online service which will bring high quality, distinctive UK-originated long form and new form interactive content to 16–34 year olds", and take advantage of the increased use of online services by the channel's target demographics. It was outlined that the service would have to leverage the "strengths" of BBC Three, such as curation, original productions, and "best-in-class storytelling", and adapt them to the "immediacy" and interactivity of digital.
When the BBC revealed the full detail in December 2014, it admitted there was widespread opposition from BBC Three viewers The BBC Trust began a 28-day public consultation regarding the plans on 20 January 2015 and it ended with a protest outside Broadcasting House. As part of the consultation a letter of 750 names against the move from the creative industry was sent to the BBC Trust, and this had the backing of a number of celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe, Aidan Turner, Olivia Colman and Lena Headey. The polling company ICM concluded a "large majority" of those that replied to the consultation were against the move, They had previously offered to buy the channel to keep it on television, but the BBC said the channel was not up for sale.
Media writer Roy Greenslade considered the change to be "unquestionably the most sensible or perhaps the least worst" way of cutting costs. While admitting BBC Three's recent success in targeting its demographic and its role as a launchpad for new talent, he argued that BBC Three was "a marginal channel with a small share of the overall television audience", and that "'Hard decisions' are just that. If the BBC is to have any hope of sustaining its quality core output then a sacrifice had to be made."
Approval and launch
thumb|Logo from 2016 to 2020
thumb|Logo used from 2020 to 2021
thumb|Logo used from 2021 to 2022
The transition was finalised by the BBC Trust in November 2015. The trust cited the shifting viewing habits of BBC Three's target audience from linear TV to digital services, and that the discontinuation of BBC Three as a television channel would allow the BBC to "deliver more distinctive content online, while bearing down on costs". Conditions were imposed on other BBC properties to complement the changes; BBC One and Two were required to develop "distinctive programmes designed for younger audiences", as well as air repeats of all full-length programmes commissioned for BBC Three. The trust also approved related proposals to allow first-run and third-party content on iPlayer, and extend CBBC's broadcast day to 9:00 p.m. (CBBC signed off at 7:00 p.m. to conserve Freeview bandwidth for BBC Three) with a focus on an older youth audience.
On 4 January 2016, it was announced that the new BBC Three digital service would launch on 16 February 2016. BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh explained that the new digital service would feature the "same award-winning programmes freed from the constraints of linear TV", emphasising the ability to distribute content across "whatever format and platform is most appropriate". Kavanagh felt that the concise "pillars" of BBC Three, combined with its new structure, would give creators more flexibility and immediacy in how they produce content. He explained that "we can allow people to do things that I don't think other broadcasters can really do at the moment—in terms of giving people room to try things and also play around with form in a way we couldn’t have done if we'd stayed on television", with the remainder of the BBC's content ecosystem as a "safety net".
The BBC Three television channel formally signed off during the late-night evening of 15 February 2016, concurrent with the official re-launch of the new BBC Three a day later. The last programme aired was an episode of Gavin & Stacey, introduced by its co-star James Corden from the set of his then current US chat show The Late Late Show in Los Angeles. The channel space continued to carry promotional information regarding the BBC Three online service, as well as a marathon of selected programmes from midnight, until it officially shut down on 31 March 2016.
Return to linear television
From March 2019, programmes from BBC Three were carried by BBC One from Monday to Wednesday after the BBC News at Ten under the name BBC Three on BBC One.
In May 2020, the BBC submitted its annual general plan for 2020–2021. It stated that the broadcaster was considering reinstating BBC Three as a linear channel with a doubled budget, citing that its content "now has the potential to reach a wider audience on a linear channel, as well as the key demographic which will continue to watch online." A number of series carried by the service, including Fleabag and Normal People, had achieved strong critical acclaim, with Fleabag in particular winning multiple Primetime Emmy Awards. Research released in September 2020 showed that BBC Three was being viewed for 89% less time per-year since the closure of its linear broadcast platform, and 72% if rebroadcasts of its content on other BBC linear channels were included. In the year after it closed its linear broadcast platform its weekly audience of viewers aged 16–34 declined 69% compared with the year before the closure.
On 16 September 2021, the UK media regulator Ofcom announced provisional approval for allowing BBC Three to return as a broadcast channel in 2022. As a public service channel it has the right to appear in the top 24 channels on EPGs. Sky complained that this would cause other channels to be bumped down the list to a less prominent position. On 25 November 2021, Ofcom announced it had given final approval for BBC Three to relaunch as a broadcast channel with a set period of February 2022, one month later than originally expected. and BBC Three began test broadcasts on 10 January 2022 ahead of its relaunch on 1 February 2022. Following an introduction by Bimini Bon-Boulash, the relaunched channel's first programme was The Launch Party, a preview special hosted by BBC Radio 1's Clara Amfo and Greg James. This was followed by news programme The Catch Up, an Eating With My Ex celebrity special, and the premieres of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, Lazy Susan, and the documentary Cherry Valentine: Gypsy Queen and Proud.
On 8 September 2022, BBC Three, Four, and one of the BBC Red Button channels were suspended due to the death of Elizabeth II, in order to preserve bandwidth for the broadcast of news coverage and tribute programming on BBC One and Two.
BBC Three HD
thumb|right|BBC Three HD logo (2013–2016)
A high-definition version of BBC Three launched on 10 December 2013 along with high-definition versions of BBC Four, BBC News, CBBC and CBeebies.
Closed in 2016, BBC Three HD was relaunched in 2022 to coincide with the channel's return to linear television. However, since the channel's closure and eventual re-launch, its bandwidth had been reallocated in Scotland (to BBC Scotland HD) and Wales (to an HD simulcast of S4C). As a result, BBC Three HD is only available on Freeview in England and Northern Ireland. The SD variant is freely available in all regions and BBC Three HD is universally available on Sky, Freesat, cable and online via BBC iPlayer.
Controllers of BBC Three
- 2003–2006: Stuart Murphy
- 2006–2007: Julian Bellamy
- 2007–2010: Danny Cohen
- 2010–2014: Zai Bennett
- 2014: Sam Bickley
- 2014–2019: Damian Kavanagh
- 2019–present: Fiona Campbell