BBC Three is blasted as a ‘waste of licence fee payer money’ as it returns to TV
‘What a total waste of licence fee money!’ Furious viewers blast the return of BBC Three to TV – and say funding downmarket programmes like Eating With My Ex and The Fast and The Farmerish is ‘wasteful’
Viewers are divided as BBC Three returns to TV tonight after six years off airSome are excited to see RuPaul’s Drag Race and Eating With My Ex on screens But others question if young people will tune in and say it’s a poor use of money
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Furious viewers have slammed the return of BBC Three to TV screens tonight, branding the move a ‘total waste of money’ and a ‘misuse of the licence fee’.
The channel, which targets viewers aged 16-34, was moved to an online-only offering on iPlayer in February 2016 in a bid to save £30million a year, with the budget redistributed to fund dramas on BBC One.
BBC Three is home to hits like Normal People, Fleabag and Gavin & Stacey but is also a hub for downmarket reality TV programming like Eating With My Ex, Don’t Tell the Bride and Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents.
Planned new programmes to mark the channel’s re-launch include The Fast And The Farmerish, a reality competition about young farmers racing tractors.
The move was described as a ‘step backwards’ by MP Julian Knight when it was first announced last year.
Outraged licence fee-payers have questioned the wisdom of trying to attract young viewers when so many favour streaming services over live TV. A recent YouGov poll found just one in 20 people aged 18-30 watch any BBC television channels live every day.
One critic tweeted: ‘Total waste of money. Misuse of the license fee from the old and retired. Cancel this channel. We don’t need this wasteful programming.’
In Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, young people were spied on by their parents as they jetted off on wild holidays with their friends
The channel will kick off with a BBC Three Launch Party, followed by a double bill of reality TV show Eating With My Ex and the premiere of RuPaul spin-off show RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK Versus the World, pictured
The channel has produced hits like Little Britain and Gavin and Stacey but is best known for its downmarket reality TV offering, with programme titles like Snog, Married, Avoid? (pictured)
Some questioned the need for BBC Three, pointing out many 16-25 year olds favour streaming services over TV channels and so wouldn’t be tuning in to watch
Another posted: ‘Bringing back #bbcthree just full of repeats utter big step backwards & added costs. @BBC can’t rely on the outdated licence fee forever needs to find new funding ways! bbc3 online only was actually step in right direction! Old stuffy BBC yet again! Stuck in the past!’
A third added: ‘What universe do they think they can get young people to watch live tv. And if you are young and watching live tv, wtf is wrong with you #BBCThree.’
A fourth wrote: ‘What a waste of money on bringing back #BBCThree it’s there anything new? A lot of it you could watch on iPlayer already. That money could have been spent on producing more content for other channels or iPlayer.’
Another tweeted: ‘#BBCThree relaunch lineup looks absolutely s**t. No new programmes. It’s just; Eating with My Ex, Drag Race & Fleabag which have been around for years. It’s already on iPlayer. Waste of licence fee.’
When it moved online in February 2016, the BBC Trust said ‘independent evidence shows younger audiences are watching more online and watching less linear TV’.
But BBC Three viewing figures have collapsed since it went online.
In September 2020 research service Enders Analysis found viewing of BBC Three content, including BBC Three programmes shown on other BBC linear TV channels, was down 72 per cent in the 12 months to November 2019, compared to its last year on air.
However iPlayer overall is growing. The BBC iPlayer delivered a record 6.1 billion programmes in the 12 months to April 2021, up 28 per cent from 4.8 billion the previous year.
Home of reality TV: Viewers blasted the decision to bring back BBC Three, which produced shows like Don’t Tell The Bride, pictured
In Hotter Than My Daughter former Atomic Kitten Liz McClarnon (left) took giant cardboard cutouts of mothers and daughters around Britain to ask the public who was most attractive
Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum (pictured) followed a group of spoilt young people who had been waited on hand and foot by their parents branch out to live in a flat on their own
On average, 10.7 million accounts use the online service a week, up from 9.1 million the year before.
The BBC hopes to attract more viewers to BBC Three by returning to live television, particularly those of lower socio-economic backgrounds or in parts of the UK where there is less internet connectivity and access to streaming services.
When BBC Three first launched in 2003 it was charged with reflecting and stimulating the ‘diversity of the UK’ and creating programmes that covered a range of subjects, including science and international affairs.
The channel won various accolades, among them Bafta awards, British Comedy Awards and Royal Television Society awards.
It was home to hits such as Being Human and the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, as well as animated comedy Family Guy.
But it also churned out trash social experiments featuring young people like Snog Marry Avoid?, Hotter Than My Daughter and Young, Dumb And Living Off Mum.
In March 2014, the BBC announced it was planning to move the channel online.
It noted young viewers had abandoned traditional linear viewing for on-demand streaming.
Reports said the BBC would be saving around £30 million through the move.
The announcement sparked various reactions, notably a protest outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House.
More than 300,000 people signed a petition to save the channel on change.org.
Celebrities such as Daniel Radcliffe, Aidan Turner, Lena Headey, Olivia Colman and Richard E Grant also all signed a letter presented to the BBC Trust’s Rona Fairhead and director general Lord Tony Hall, urging them not to move the channel online.
However the move went ahead, with BBC Three coming off air in March 2016.
BBC Three programmes remained available on BBC iPlayer.
The digital channel, home to Killing Eve, had a massive lockdown hit with the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
In March 2021, the BBC announced its intention to bring the channel back on air.
At the time, the BBC said it was committed to doubling the investment on BBC Three commissions over the next two years, following the success of shows including Normal People and Fleabag.
The decision was met with criticism from Mr Knight, chairman of the Commons digital, media, culture and sport committee, who accused the BBC of pouring money into programmes at a time when pensioners ‘are being chased to pay up for their TV licences’.
He said: ‘The BBC’s decision to bring back BBC Three to our TVs is an acknowledgement by the broadcaster that it is failing to reach young audiences.
BBC Three, which launched hit shows including Fleabag (pictured), is seeking to recapture younger viewers
As the pandemic hit in March last year BBC Three spawned another hit with Normal People
‘I question whether putting the clock back five years is the right way to win over 18-35s. The extra investment found to pay for this is also happening at the same time that those over 75 are being chased to pay up for their TV licences.’
BBC Three’s return was given the green light by broadcasting regulator Ofcom in November.
The watchdog said the relaunch would help the BBC reach younger viewers, particularly those from lower-income homes and those living outside London and the South East.
It also stipulated the BBC must ensure that at least ’75 per cent of hours broadcast each year must be original programmes’, as commissioned by the corporation for a UK viewing audience.
The channel returns at 7pm tonight and will kick off with a BBC Three Launch Party, followed by a double bill of reality TV show Eating With My Ex and the premiere of RuPaul spin-off show RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK Versus the World.
Other viewers are excited about the channel’s return to TV and can’t wait to tune in
Some viewers took to Twitter to share their excitement over the channel’s return, saying they ‘can’t wait’ to tune in.
BBC Three will air from 7pm every night on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and Freesat, and will also be available on iPlayer.
According to the broadcaster, the channel will be a ‘multi-genre offering’, where audiences can expect a ‘rich content mix of drama, comedy, entertainment, documentaries, news and sport’.
BBC Three controller Fiona Campbell described the new channel’s style as ‘unfiltered, unapologetic and extraordinary’.
She said: ‘Our channel is all about a concentrated experience of how tough it is to be super young in the UK today and that show epitomises and embodies that tough emotion and feeling.’
