Stand up and do what? Even if Three is saved, other areas of the BBC will still need to be cut.

It not being a 'moaner'. Its raising a valid point about the insulting decline in quality on the channel. As has been pointed out most of the channels 'triumphs' are years old now and there has been little of note in recent years. There is some amazing spin going on all of a sudden portraying BBC3 content as full of innovative comedy and brave, original drama. Yes. There have been rare occasions of this (Being Human, Nighty Night etc) but a glance at the BBC3 schedules of the last year alone tell a different story. Constant repeats of insulting, cheap and nasty drivel like Snog, Marry Avoid and Don't Tell the Bride. Family Guy and American Dad double bills repeated ad nauseum. Films like Tomb Raider and National Treasure on a loop. Not good enough.

I don't think it should be celebrated that the channel is closing. Its a real shame. And its a real shame that rather than credit a younger audience with some degree of intelligence and nurture decent young writers instead BBC3 chose to compete with E4 and ITV2 and treat its audience like a bunch of braying simpletons who want to watch 'wayward' teens binge drink on holiday and gawp at a teenagers genital warts in that bizarre mixture of pious condemnation and lurid fascination that makes up all the reality TV landfill that turns up on most channels these days.

I also have no time for the inverse snobbery of those claiming BBC4 should be axed. No it shouldn't. There is practically no other channel anywhere these days that would show something like Mark Gatiss wonderful documentarys on European horror films. Not one. But if you want to watch 'OMG I'm a bisexual teenage mum with a drug habit who eats too much fast food Part 7' then sadly there are many channels catering for that.

Will they? Really? Says who?

Thought we were out of the recession now.....why is the licence fee frozen...?

Why would it have anything to do with inverse snobbery?
If it came down to a choice between a channel somebody watched and a channel they didn't, they would surely choose to keep the one they watched.

@ saladfingers, I also find your complaints selective to say the least.

This week alone there's been an excellent array of programmes including The Millionnaire Preacher, which I really enjoyed, Junior Paramedics, showing young people as students in very challenging, and eventually life-saving roles.
Same goes for Tough Young Teachers, which I showed clips of to my Yr 11 PSE class yesterday as part of a reflective activitity on pupil behaviour.

Bluestone is back, and the superb new Ja'Mie, hilarious creation of Chris Lilley.

Hardly just a channel about drunken teenagers abroad.

What, no more 'Family Guy' repeats?

No. They never started till 11pm anyway, graveyard slot.

If they get rid of BBC 3 it's a bit of a joke because just a few months ago the channel was upgraded to HD quality. So not only will they ditch the channel - if the rumours/reports are correct - they're ditching one of their HD channels! And not one suggestion that the license fee will be reduced as a result of this alleged axe of one of their channels. Nice to know the BBC don't give a **** about the viewers. Surely one less channel means less money spent by the BBC so we, the viewers, should get a tiny discount on our license fee. But that won't happen.

That's the point!

That's my favourite show! I love it when the bisexual mum goes to McDonald's and asks the employee at the counter:


"Can I have some crack cocaine with my chips?"

I am a 'Family Guy' fan to be honest. of course I was taking the mick there
I am not all that good on the old tinternt so can anyone direct to how I can see new family guy please?

It's a shame. Actually if I had to axe a channel I would actually get rid of BBC2! I feel that it's position as an alternative to BBC1 hasn't really been justified since the whole country went digital. If people just forget their attachments to individual programmes for one second and pretend that they can actually be moved from one channel to the next with ease then I would use BBC2's budget to really make more of BBC3 and BBC4 and turn them into real channels, broadcast all day. Put all the high brow, classy, culture programmes and thought provoking documentaries from BBC2 on 4 and all the cutting edge, experimental, creative programmes on BBC3. Obviously a spot of rebranding would be needed to renumber the channels but you get my drift… And while they're at it, merge the two Children's channels. Do they really need two channels? We made do with an hour at lunchtime and two hours in the afternoon….

As I said, I'm not the target audience for BBC3. It appeals to a certain type of viewer, budget cuts clearly haven't ruined their enjoyment of certain programmes and some people watch it more than any other channel. What I said was just my opinion.


Your post makes sense but they will never ever get rid of BBC2. It's been there too long and if anything would cause a greater uproar if it was axed.

Do agree about all these CBBC channels though.

If BBC 2 is more of the serious, documentary, informative channel, couldn't they just move all the good stuff from BBC 4 to BBC 2? Personally, I've only watched BBC 4 once and that was because of the Doctor Who classic eps. it just seems like BBC 2, BBC 3 and BBC 4 are half-channels at the minute - only containing some good shows and the others are repeats or terrible programmes. Maybe it would be better to condense them all and get rid of the shows no one watches but have reasonable budgets. Does anyone even watch Casualty or Doctors?

I think it would've been better for a revamp. Proper shows like Torchwood and Being Human, stick them back on BBC 3 and condense BBC 2 and BBC 4 into one. Plus, it's going to be really weird having the numbering BBC 1, BBC 2 and BBC 4. (or is that just OCD?)

Because allowing the fee to rise over the £150 mark would be hugely unpopular. Of course, this is largely psychological because we can see exactly how much the TVL costs while other public service costs are rather more nebulous.

Wasn't Being Human on BBC Three? I don't watch the channel much but that was one of the highlights

BBC haters can approve all they want (hell, I never watch BBC3 apart from its occasional sport and Doctor Who repeats), this is just another case of pandering to the Tories and 'their sort' of viewers. A Director General whose last job was as head of The Royal Opera House, axes a youth orientated populist channel so they can save the more 'elitist' one (BBC4). Who'd have guessed....

Just been reading on BBC teletext that some of the money saved from closing BBC3 will go back into drama on BBC1, so maybe, just maybe, a small fraction of it will filter it's way into the Doctor Who coffers. I don't know how these things work at the BBC but if that did happen, there is an upside to the channel's axing.

I love BBC-4, mainly for the superb documentaries (especially the music ones) and excellent foreign language dramas (that no other channel would touch with a bargepole) so am delighted it's been saved.

I am, however, mortified, to be described as "elitist" and a "viewer favoured by the Tories".

As for BBC-3, well, as Watch also shows repeats of "Doctor Who" and E4 is likely to get "Family Guy", I won't miss it at all.

It's a bit extreme to compare the abolition of a TV channel with the Third
Reich.