It was announced today that BBC Three will return as a broadcast channel in January 2022. The channel originally launched in 2003, but went off the air in 2016 to become a streaming-only service.
Recently, the channel has seen huge success with shows such as ‘Killing Eve’, ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Normal People’. More recently, they have been showing Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK. Drag Race is extremely popular, with it’s weekly episodes attracting lots of attention on Twitter.
In their statement, the BBC said: “ We believe in backing success and, having committed to double the investment on BBC Three commissions over the next two years, we want to showcase that content to a wider audience.
“Using both a broadcast channel and BBC iPlayer in tandem, will help to grow our offer and deliver more value to younger audiences.”
The plan is to use the channel to increase the “diversity and creativity” of their output, building on what they have already established on the online platform.
The channel is aimed at 16-24-year-olds. It will broadcast from 7pm – 4am every day, the same hours it did at the time closed seven years ago.
BBC Three has long been the home of television for young people. Over the years, younger generations have become alienated from traditional broadcast TV, preferring to use streaming instead. This return will hopefully give them a place back there.
Featured image credit: BBC
3rd year Journalism student | Film and Television Editor @ Brig Newspaper
