27-05-2022, 04:24 PM
I agree that the time is right for a wholesale review of all the BBC's channels. BBC Four going is a big opportunity to strengthen BBC Two making it the home of the arts, documentaries and shows traditionally seen on BBC Four. Two for many years has been the weak link in the portfolio IMO and now is a chance to address this.
Closing the CBBC Channel (although a pretty bold decision) seems to me to be the logical one. They can run the best of CBBC's shows in an afternoon block on Two and point viewers to the full catalogue on iPlayer. For the majority of CBBC's airtime the audience are at school anyway, not to mention the fact kids are largely watching over iPlayer aswell, and so again shutting the channel they can concentrate resources where the viewers actually are.
CBeebies is obviously a highly valued channel by it's audience at relatively low cost, and there isn't anything near as good provided outside the BBC and so I think completely the right decision in keeping that going. They obviously want to keep Three as the destination for the 16+ audience which isn't really served anywhere else on the BBC but I think extending CBeebies until 8PM would be a good move and erase the problem of Three being a wasteland pre-watershed frankly. Three again should be about showing the best of what they have up on iPlayer.
And BBC One is obviously the flagship channel which has the more unique role of providing a range of programming for a broader audience.
Closing the CBBC Channel (although a pretty bold decision) seems to me to be the logical one. They can run the best of CBBC's shows in an afternoon block on Two and point viewers to the full catalogue on iPlayer. For the majority of CBBC's airtime the audience are at school anyway, not to mention the fact kids are largely watching over iPlayer aswell, and so again shutting the channel they can concentrate resources where the viewers actually are.
CBeebies is obviously a highly valued channel by it's audience at relatively low cost, and there isn't anything near as good provided outside the BBC and so I think completely the right decision in keeping that going. They obviously want to keep Three as the destination for the 16+ audience which isn't really served anywhere else on the BBC but I think extending CBeebies until 8PM would be a good move and erase the problem of Three being a wasteland pre-watershed frankly. Three again should be about showing the best of what they have up on iPlayer.
And BBC One is obviously the flagship channel which has the more unique role of providing a range of programming for a broader audience.