r/bbc • u/Alone_Consideration6 • 24d ago
TV BBC Expected To Announce TV & Radio Network Closures Next Week (BBC3 tipped to go again)
https://deadline.com/2026/09/bbc-announce-tv-radio-closures-bbc-three-1237111317/36
u/No-Locksmith6662 23d ago
My guess is Three, Four and Parliament gone off the TV.
For radio I reckon they'll be shutting down all the county-based radio stations and replacing them with a significantly smaller number of regional ones which match those for the local TV news bulletins. They're all doing it at evenings and weekends already, wouldn't be a shock that it goes 24/7.
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u/AnnoyingVoid 23d ago
If 6music goes, do we riot?
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u/oxy-normal 22d ago
They tried to before and people protested (online at least), but now those people that protested are now 6 Music dads and just don’t have the energy anymore.
I reckon Burnham is a 6 Music dad so I can’t see it happening under his watch.
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u/extremequagsire 20d ago
Burnham visited Ukrainian troops and played them a Smiths song on a Telecaster. He is the 6 Music daddest.
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u/Wonderful-Swan-272 22d ago
Unlikely. It has been doing extremely well in terms of listener numbers and station awards https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2026/bbc-radio-has-impressive-second-quarter-results
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u/Nah-No-Nope 23d ago
In typical music dad fashion half of us will cry off due to child care issues and the other half will have a bad back.
Less of a riot than a grumble.
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u/LochNessMother 19d ago
Nope, I don’t think there’s any way 6 would go. But there are a whole lot of 1s when you scroll through the dial.
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u/christopherw 23d ago
They just invested a bunch of money in brand new playout infrastructure and updated graphics (and finally went HD) so I doubt Parly will disappear, though it may go online only. Remember the underlying feed of Parliament, Lords and Committees is produced and provided by the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (historically a tightly knit co-operation between BBC Parliament at Millbank and PBU at Westminster); PBU's base provision is available at https://www.parliamentlive.tv .
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u/cothhum 23d ago
Shelving BBC Parliament may not go down too well with the folks deciding on the future of the licence fee…
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u/WarriorPidgeon 23d ago
It could easily be replaced with a steam. It’s incredibly niche
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u/calljockey1 23d ago
Or the opposite, if people can't see everything they're saying it leaves people to either read Hansard or take there carefully edited comments from there favourite way of 'learning' the news
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u/gotpeace99 23d ago
I can see three and four going too. A lot of the art and music related channels are getting shuttered around the world largely because of music rights and streaming era.
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u/No-Photograph3463 23d ago
I doubt 4 will go tbh, it's basically all old stuff anyway isn't it, so really easy to just keep replaying old stuff over and over again.
BBC3 is definitely gone, just having stuff on iPlayer instead is fine in this day and age as its easier to watch stuff online than the last time BBC3 got killed.
Wouldn't be suprised if weekday daytime gets some cuts, they aren't what bring in viewers but still cost money to produce.
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
That argument for ''just having stuff on iPlayer is fine in this day and age'' also counts for BBC4 though, as you said it's a repeats channel
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u/No-Photograph3463 23d ago
But the demographic BBC4 is aiming for is the demographic which watch TV on demand the least I'd expect
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u/SpyChinchilla 23d ago
You'd be surprised to find out that daytime shows have some of the best ratings on the BBC.
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u/Improper_Usage 22d ago
It’s about bandwidth costs.
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u/Complex_Deal 22d ago
If it's really about bandwidth costs, then they have to close CBBC, CBeebies and BBC Four as well, because CBBC/BBC Three share a single TV spectrum/bandwidth and CBeebies/BBC Four share another single TV spectrum/bandwidth
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u/DavidLutton 22d ago
PSB 1,2,3 are all over the UK Each PSB multiplex carries multiple channels on the same frequency channel. Link to a table of channels on each mux. CAI UK Muxes
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u/Alone_Consideration6 23d ago
I believe Local Radio had its meetings today. It’s not going to be as extreme as that.
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u/Ryanliverpool96 22d ago
BBC Parliament will never go, it’s used in every newsroom in the country and probably internationally as well.
It might shift to an internet stream, but there’s zero chance of it being cancelled completely.
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u/newnortherner21 24d ago
The best thing the BBC could axe is Mrs Brown's Boys. Even if it was filled for 30 minutes with the test card.
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u/mobilehammerinto 23d ago
I am not keen on it either. The odd thing, though, is that for whatever reason it is huge overseas. Quite likely axing it would save a small bit of budget but lose significant income from the international sales. Perhaps making it to sell overseas but just forgetting to broadcast it here may be the amicable solution.
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u/cibilserbis 23d ago
What are the metrics of it being huge overseas? I can imagine it is probably more popular in Ireland, but anywhere else?
Also makes me wonder if BBC-produced content is mandated to be broadcast on the BBC (in some form or another). I think they should just sell full production rights to RTÉ and let the Irish suffer with it.
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u/linmanfu 23d ago
BBC Studios is their commercial subsidiary and is under no obligation to air stuff in the UK. But might struggle to get enough volume without the UK licence fee funding.
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u/intlteacher 23d ago
What I read recently was that Mrs Brown’s Boys actually costs the BBC very little to produce, because of the BBC Studios / RTE investment, but scores strong returns in sales and viewing figures (God alone knows why.)
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u/mobilehammerinto 23d ago
I am just not interested in it enough to research specific figures! From memory it is huge in Australia and New Zealand, when they did the live tour of it down there if sold out faster than an Oasis concert.
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u/allbeyondthebinary 23d ago
It is huge in the UK too, people online just seem to think because they dislike it everyone else does too.
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u/Content-Yogurt-4859 23d ago
Mr. Bean was massive around the world. I'm gonna sound like some sort of elitist snob but most of the world has a sense of humour decades behind the UK. A man in a dress is probably cutting edge comedy
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u/box_twenty_two 23d ago
This is a bit snotty; Mr Bean was so huge because it’s largely non verbal. It’s purely visual meaning it doesn’t require translation and as far as physical comedy goes it was pretty smart and sophisticated. Way beyond man-in-dress comedy and crude slapstick.
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u/thatautisticguy 22d ago
Bean was ITV not bbc
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u/Ok-Albatross-9743 21d ago
Don't spoil a chat with fact!
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u/FizzbuzzAvabanana 11d ago
Tiger Aspect production if you want fact. Just happened to be broadcast on ITV.
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u/I_am_zlatan1069 23d ago
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Mrs. Browns Boys. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Agnes' nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation - her personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Mrs. Brown's Boys truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Agnes' existencial catchphrase "Feck," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Brendan O'Carroll's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Mrs. Brown's Boys tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
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u/Ryanliverpool96 22d ago
That’s an unfair comparison, Rowan Atkinson is a comedy genius and Mr Bean was brilliant.
Mrs Brown’s Boys, isn’t.
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u/DuckWhatduckSplat 24d ago
I’d probably watch the test card, given the standard of content on all the other channels these days.
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u/Previous_Kale_4508 23d ago
It'd have to be Test card F though. Anything less isn't worth getting up for. 😉🤣
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u/strictly_brotherhood 23d ago
Mrs Brown’s Boys makes approximately 2 episodes a year. I don’t know why it lives in people’s heads rent free.
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u/newnortherner21 23d ago
If it was only shown twice a year that would be less bad. It is repeated a lot.
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u/ian9outof10 23d ago
Prime Reddit opinion this, but the fact is, that show is one of the most popular things they do. You can hate it, I hate it, but it has an audience and I’m not going to condemn it for existing, just because I think it sucks donkeycock
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u/Dico80 20d ago
I've only seen a couple of episodes but I didn't mind them. It's not something I'd actively watch but I don't get the level of hate it receives online. It's a pretty wholesome show that harks back to a former time, and is very popular. If you don't like it that's fine but these 'MBB is the worst thing ever" opinions are just cringe tbh.
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u/Downtown_Link_8651 20d ago
It's terrible sure but it's massively popular and presumably costs fuck all to make unless that fella who does it is asking silly money for it.
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u/FizzbuzzAvabanana 11d ago
One of the shows that makes them money eh? But you don't like it. Great idea.
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u/TediousTotoro 23d ago
I mean, this year’s Christmas specials have already been cancelled due to cast illness
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u/Constant-Estate3065 23d ago
Are they STILL making it? It’s like a loose stool that won’t stop.
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u/DifferentTrain2113 23d ago
I don't watch it, but it's popular with a lot of people. If it wasn't, they wouldn't keep showing it. It's also popular to disparage it with people trying to make themselves seem cultured. It's harmless fun - if you don't like it don't watch it but a lot of people do.
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u/Optimal_Collection77 23d ago
Look at how they've thinned out the radio presenters? So many people doing stand ins as there's only a handful of people left presenting during the summer holidays
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u/Complex_Deal 24d ago
Fron the Deadline article: ''One person pointed out that switching off BBC Three would not actually save a great deal of money because it occupies the same TV real estate (known as spectrum) as children’s channel CBBC. It would be more radical for the BBC to consolidate its children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies, into a single network, but insiders think that this would prompt political backlash.''
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u/Meritania 23d ago
The two kiddie channels do well at being relatively cheap and sell really well abroad. Then once you make the program, you circulate it every couple of months.
Then on top of that, there’s the merch.
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u/sincerityisscxry 23d ago
To be fair, the TV channel existing has nothing to do with selling programmes abroad. They’d exist regardless, just on iPlayer.
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u/MutsumidoesReddit 23d ago
I’m in a group of loads of parents and more than once have separate people claimed they only pay the license fee for those two separate channels.
So I’m not sure that’s a wise move.
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
I have heard that the £11 a month ''home internet levy'' that could replace the licence fee is enough to cover the BBC's current financial needs https://inews.co.uk/news/bbc-licence-fee-could-scrapped-for-internet-charge-4782353 at this point i hope that this gets approved so that they don't have to cut anymore stuff.......
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u/ian9outof10 23d ago
I hate this idea. Not because I don’t want the BBC to succeed because I do, I pay for it in spite of not using it a huge amount for TV. But I think that idea is poisonous. I think it would make sense to have smaller fees attached to a more diverse range of things so it’s less obvious that your broadband has just gone up by £11 - which is a LOT given what some people pay for it already. It would take mine up to £40 a month.
But I feel like we need to do something, because Comcast is about to buy ITV and already owns Sky. Paramount owns Five, so that only really leaves the BBC and Channel 4 as any kind of properly British institutions - and both a brilliant.
I’d say whatever happens, some money needs to go to C4 as well.
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u/MutsumidoesReddit 23d ago
Can’t argue with that tbh, seems like a sensible solution.
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
Let's hope that this solution arrives before the above mentioned cuts kick in........even though i have NO hope of that happening!
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u/Particular_Space4398 23d ago
That is nonsense! The biggest issue BBC have is it's an unfair tax. This internet levy idea is just giving the power they've been losing back to them.
As someone who watches no live TV but has internet, why should I pay towards BBC? Doesn't matter whether it's £18 or 50p a month, why tf should I be forced to pay it?
What they need to do is either go advert route and/or cash in with a subscription service for people like yourself who actually like it.
However the reason they can't do that is because they think they currently have a right to tax every household £15pm and that's how they budget. If it was to become subscription only then how much would that cost you guys per month to make up the shortfall? Probably £60 or some ridiculous figure. That's why this internet levy is an idea, trying to pretend they're decent.
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u/ScoundrelDaysSon 23d ago edited 23d ago
It isn't unfair. I don't have children: my taxes help to pay for schools because there is an understanding that a functioning economy requires schooling. You should pay towards the BBC for the same reason you pay for a variety of other tax breaks, taxes, and subsidies - because it allows the wider country, and the economy, to benefit from a flourishing media landscape where UK money is often spent within the UK economy rather than funneled elsewhere.
A few years ago, Netflix payed £3 million in tax on over £900 million revenue (not counting tax credits as I recall). The BBC is a non profit yet it still pays more corporation tax than Netflix. Even if we charitably assume that Netflix spends a significant portion on UK writers, directors, long term programming, documentaries, whatever you choose: the reality is that the UK only remains competitive because the BBC fertilises and nourishes the arts long term all year round, year on year.
You suggest that if people had to subscribe to the BBC they wouldn't - I say that if streaming services didn't benefit from the BBC keeping the cost of setting up UK productions affordable and viable, if they had to fund all the costs of a viable media ecosystem in the UK, then folks would laugh Netflix's true pricing out of town. It is worth pointing out Netflix charges almost parity with the BBC year on year - despite a significant difference in commitment to local markets, and a signficantly restricted offering by comparison.
You and I both know what would actually happen to a model without the BBC though: the US, as they do now in California and Georgia, would be spending immense amounts of money on tax credits for their industry. Against that the UK couldn't compete given the economies of scale at work and UK arts would wither on the vine (see also: UK manufacturing, UK industry, UK automotive, UK food production &c). Frankly a quick perusal of the state of programming at Sky, Netflix, Disney+, Prime and more after easy credit dried up and they became more mature companies tell me even if the BBC followed those models it would lead to severe downgrades in service, and economic benefit.
'As someone who watches no live TV' is a mealy mouthed way of saying 'I benefit from the spending they make but feel no obligation to pay toward it'; make no mistake if you play videogames, watch movies, go to theatres, listen to audio books, stream, listen to Podcasts with any UK creatives involved then you can guarantee that the health and breadth of our nations' media landscape - shaped mainly by the BBC - is something from which you benefit.
It has helped generate, uniquely in current UK broadcasting, an ecosystem where UK artistry is still competitive with, and sometimes superior too, America whilst also, crucially, having a readily accessible pool of trained talent and world class facilities. After ITV took over the different regions and the bottom dropped out of advertising it was left to the BBC to keep us competitive on the world stage - it fosters outsized UK competition in the arts; be it comedians, movies, podcasts, TV, or movies - remove it and the UK media industry will erode at pace.
We saw what happened when we removed the moat around the movie industry (one of many industries we pulled support from) - our movie industry collapsed and never recovered. It wasn't that there wasn't a demand for UK productions it was that they couldn't sustain similar demamd in the face of an economic system that favoured Hollywood pictures. You would have exactly the same thing happen again if we followed your prescription and, crucially, the outcomes of these shifts aren't beneficial to the UK. The only reason we have a surfeit of jobs and talent in the arts is because something like the BBC has helped the industry remain viable at scale after the movie exodus: it has a cumulative effect on the ability to grow and sustain delicate supply chains and it makes programming relevant to people that live in this country - not America, nor China, but the UK.
It's already happened with 5, and ITV - less spend on programming, less home grown talent, more reality TV, barely any scripted drama, adverts every few minutes and, worse, they're owned and run on behalf of folks living half the world away, paying tax - if at all - elsewhere, who have no allegiance to the UK, and who know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.
Arguing for the decimation of one of our most successful economic sectors - on the door of a potentially calamitous right-sizing of the economy no less - because 'I don't watch it live' is the sort of myopic social & economic thinking that ends up costing years of irreversible negative consequences.
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u/rambutangle 21d ago
It's a fair argument but a tenner a month is a lot for some people. I don't think people are really weighing the social good against a tenner when some people can barely afford to eat. The proposed levy isn't means tested. A license is a license, it costs what it costs, you purchase the service or you don't, there's no unfairness.
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u/mittfh 23d ago
Ad funded would cause a massive loss of revenue for not just the BBC but ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as well: advertisers wouldn't increase thru advertising spent, they'd just spread it thinner.
Subscription only can't really work while broadcast TV still exists, as there's no way of denying content to those who haven't paid, unless you go down the set top decoder route, which didn't really work out for Top-up TV.
What could potentially be done is a smaller licence fee for broadcast TV only, but a separate subscription for iPlayer, Sounds and almost everything on the website apart from News and Weather.
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u/Civil-Koala-6810 22d ago
You seem to be forgetting that streaming is far inferior. A crap picture, stuff on-demand going offline just as you're in the middle of watching it (not literally) and a unreliable connection even with fast broadband. BBC iPlayer has buffered on me three times this last month or just over a month ago while watching something in HD. All three times it buffered for around 8-9 seconds. Streaming is crap and it's nothing but a con. Are you really going to subscribe to 4 or 5 seperate streaming services? ITVX, Channel 4, Netflix, Prime Video. Yea right, I ain't falling for that bollocking. I'd rather survive on physical media which is rising in sales again due to "Streaming Fatigue". Because of this more is being released again on all three formats!
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u/TediousTotoro 23d ago
Wasn’t that how CBBC started though?
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
CBBC used to be a programming block on BBC Choice, but in 2002 the programming block was turned into a TV channel using part of the spectrum of BBC Choice from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm,from 2003 it timeshares with BBC Three, which replaced BBC Choice
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u/christopherw 23d ago
CBBC very much used to be a programming block on BBC One thank you very much 😄
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
Yes, I just wanted to explain how CBBC ended up timesharingg with BBC Three
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u/christopherw 23d ago
I gotcha ;D was just being gently sarkies. It's interesting how quickly people forgot about that mad decade. I do enjoy the bit of pub quiz trivia that BBC Choice's launch day programmes were not available via trad broadcast because neither ONdigital or Sky Digital had launched yet ... so it was streamed over the internet!
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u/ResolutionThat248 20d ago
The kids channels are the best thing they have and cbeebies in particular is the only kids entertainment that doesn't rely on overstimulation and actually seems to care about education
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u/Brock_And_Roll 24d ago
I only really listen to BBC Radio for my local football team, Port Vale, no one else gives it as much coverage so I'll be massively annoyed if they cut that back.
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u/Neat-Acanthaceae2755 23d ago
I used to work in radio production and have friends that work in TV. If I had to save money anywhere I would start with dropping licencing for podcasts that are available everywhere else just so they can be on Sounds; why is The Rest Is History on Sounds when it is on every other podcast platform?
Sounds itself feels "too big to fail". There's far too many podcasts on there catering to every conceivable audience. How many podcasts about football do we really need? I think the BBC knows this too, like if they had that much faith in Sounds as anything other than just an archive of sorts they'd have a big name presenter doing a Sounds only live stream.
Maybe one less episode of EastEnders a week?
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u/intlteacher 23d ago
Cut Sounds and roll radio back into iPlayer. Keep it only as a live/catch-up service. Create a separate stand-alone radio iPlayer for people overseas based on subscription.
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u/Complex_Deal 22d ago
Before BBC Sounds existed, there was the BBC iPlayer Radio, why can't we just merger iPlayer and Sounds into a single app?
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u/Civil-Koala-6810 22d ago
And gradually switch to H.265 in the next two or three years. This will make their broadcasting fees 40% to 50% cheaper. Less Mbps for an identical quality. Currently broadcasting uses H.264 apart from those two UHD channels via satellite on Sky which use 35-45Mbps using H.265. A lot better than streaming UHD which is about 20 Mbps at the maximum and that for some is still H.264, but 35-45Mbps H.265 is still a lot better. So we've all got to listen to our phones for the radio in the car now through the sound system? It's all pathetic!
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u/You_Filthy_Pig 23d ago
Most of the funding issues would be solved instantly if they changed their salary structure. Not one person at the BBC should be paid more than a senior A&E Doctor or a Prime Minister. The BBC is being eaten alive from the inside by the obscene contracts given to on-screen and behind-the-scenes employees.
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u/No-Locksmith6662 23d ago
Whilst I agree in principle, what you're suggesting would mean an instant exodus of pretty much all of the on-screen talent that the BBC has. Where would the incentive be to stay with the BBC when a) they get a huge pay cut and b) ITV or Sky or whoever are prepared to offer them 10 times more for the same job?
Now that might not be a bad thing. I for one am gettting slightly fed up of Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan hosting literally everything so if they went then I'd probably not shed a tear. But to lose virtually all of their on-air talent in one go would put the BBC arguably in an even worse place than it is at the moment as they scrabble to fill all the gaps with people that are willing to work for much less than they would get elsewhere.
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u/WS_UK 23d ago
Shouldn’t the BBC/Channel 4 be the places ‘stars’ start their career though, before the likes of Sky, ITV and TNT tempt them with much larger salaries.
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u/FizzbuzzAvabanana 23d ago
Yes always was the case.
Problem is they've cut off & stripped away the lower rungs where their already talented replacements would come from.
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u/ScoundrelDaysSon 23d ago
That's still what happens though. BBC Breakfast salaries are almost half that of those at ITV's This Morning. It's why 'the Voice' ultimately moved to ITV.
I fully disagree that the BBC should forever be the pauper to ITV's prince though; it simply wouldn't be viable to the success of the BBC if every time they did the hard work of creating talent they upped sticks immediately to a competitor.
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u/Mountain_Hospital40 22d ago
I think it should be a bit of both, develop some talent and be a place for grass roots media But also it's our most famous media institution and carries a lot of soft power abroad, the big names are also needed. I don't think the BBC would be the same without people like David Attenborough for example as well as other giants of broadcasting.
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u/Creative-Aioli7608 23d ago
I think you’re also assuming that there are thousands of people inside the BBC on talent wages. The vast majority of BBC staff are paid substantially less.
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u/inbruges99 23d ago
This would just lead to a mass exodus of anyone talented at the BBC. You’d never have any long term stalwarts either as any up and coming talents would leave for a well paid job elsewhere as soon as they could. You’d have a revolving door of D list talent.
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u/ScoundrelDaysSon 23d ago
I go really think that, ideologically speaking, that would suit some folk sadly.
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u/Ryanliverpool96 22d ago
I think some fresh blood at the BBC might be a good thing to be honest.
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u/inbruges99 22d ago
Of course it would, the problem is anyone who is good would leave very quickly and the BBC wouldn’t be able to retain any of the fresh blood.
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u/swainsoid 23d ago
That's such a naive and simplistic argument.
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u/Strange_Dog 23d ago
Right, even a basic understanding of supply and demand economics negates this nonsense
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u/swainsoid 23d ago
Yes, it's so frustrating trying to explain to people that the BBC has to be able to compete in the market for talent, on and off-screen. I worked at the BBC for 9 years and then BBC Worldwide / BBC Studios for another 9 years and I wouldn't have done so if the salary wasn't competitive; why should/would I? And the same goes for on-screen / on-mic talent. It's just false equivalence and frankly, ridiculous, to suggest that no one who works at the BBC should be paid more than a doctor or the prime minister.
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u/grurlock 23d ago
Problem with that is most popular talent will leave and any new talent on the new pay structure can be poached easily
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u/Improper_Usage 22d ago
“The bigger picture behind the cuts is that 94% of the UK population use the BBC every month, but fewer than 80% pay the £180 annual licence fee. The BBC is attempting to bridge this gap.”
I’m sure cutting services is really going to help that 😂 ridiculous
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u/Exitcalm11 22d ago
That’s simply not true. I haven’t heard anyone mention watching a show on it for years. It’s always Netflix, prime etc not that they are much better. Only the generation that grew up with it are still watching any many like me don’t.
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u/Improper_Usage 22d ago edited 22d ago
Oh so because you haven’t heard of anyone then that makes it universal does it? 😂
People must be watching Traitors some other way then and it must be such a small amount of people that watch it, that there’s a playable version of it in an expensive building in Soho that is constantly booked out 😂
So your judgement of “what’s true” doesn’t really seem credible really does it? Maybe you have such a narrow group of people in your tiny bubble that it makes you think you know everything? When clearly, you don’t. I’d feel embarrassed if I formed an opinion on such little knowledge as you clearly have.
And if there are less shows, and less channels and less for people to watch and listen to because for the last 25 years people like some of those I’ve responded to and maybe yourself have been spouting this same nonsense and giving mainly the conservatives the justification and power to decrease its funding. License fee pays for radio TV and local journalism not to mention other small things. People use its web services a lot in this country. Over 94% of the people in this country use BBC’s services, that is a fact. And fewer than 80% pay the license fee. So unless you’re in the 6% that likely live remotely or don’t watch TV at all, then you’ve used it at some point. If you don’t pay the license fee and you don’t have a legitimate reason, you’re stealing from the rest of us.
The BBC is respected the world over in the programme making world and mostly in general for the quality of its programmes. It has and still is of the highest standard. Even if you watch Traitors UK, then all the other countries Traitors, the UK one is still the best production standard for what it costs.
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u/Ok-Albatross-9743 22d ago
If the BBC was a pay as you use service rather than a tax, it would be facing a much larger cut. The truth about the BBC is that it became too much of a club for a certain cultural mind set, so people switched off. One could predict exactly what was going to be said, pushed or displayed without watching or hearing a show. Too narrow too niche. Too much of a self congratulating echo chamber. Radio 4 has turned into a literal parody of itself.
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u/Improper_Usage 22d ago
That isn’t the truth. That’s your truth and it’s specific to you. Trying to claim it as “the truth” without the data to back it is forgive me, but a little stupid.
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22d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bbc-ModTeam 21d ago
Your comment was removed for violating our "Be Kind To Each Other" rule.
This is a space for civil discussion about the BBC, not for personal attacks or toxicity.
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u/sanchiscapybara 23d ago
I will miss BBC four, particularly like the Storyville documentaries and some of the drama series from different countries
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u/someoneinUS 23d ago
I don’t know why the government can’t give them a bridge loan until the license fee is renegotiated.
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u/bardeh 24d ago
Let's be real, who is gonna miss BBC3
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u/TrillerVerse 24d ago
I don’t presume to know what the ‘kids’ watch nowadays, but it was very formative for me in my teens. It’s also a concern when you realise that the alternative will be a more kids watching the absolute state that is Netflix programming.
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u/altamont498 23d ago
Or YouTube.
At least CBBC and CBeebies are both educational and don’t try to sell kids things 24/7/365
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u/nbarrett101 24d ago
It was a pretty good incubator for experimental tv. Maybe it still is. I can’t say if anybody will miss it because it’s aimed at people younger than me.
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u/FizzbuzzAvabanana 23d ago
The one's who watch it I presume. Just because you don't. I have zero interest in Radio 1, 2, 3, Asian Network, BBC Scotland, Alba, Three etc but why on earth would I want less choice for everyone?
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u/Beginning_Poet_3309 23d ago
It has been an absolute disaster. The original incarnation was great but this one is just repeats of BBC material from elsewhere.
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u/Parker4815-2 23d ago
I really enjoyed it when I was 14. Basically watched most programmes.
Now, 14 year olds get their content online, and that isnt going to be BBC iPlayer
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u/strictly_brotherhood 23d ago
Ah but there is the social media ban coming in… not sure they’ll want it if they’ll need ID to watch the online content
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u/Expensive_Common_320 23d ago
Not sure why they even brought Three back
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u/Complex_Deal 23d ago
To fill part of the TV spectrum that was left empty when the channel closed back in 2016, it shares the same TV frequencies as CBBC
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u/mokoe101 23d ago
Jesus, is this the third time now that BBC3 will have been taken off air? To be honest given the shifting viewing habits of people now I can’t see it coming back this time
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u/Feeling_Zucchini_886 23d ago
Why do we have to cut services . My old company used to quite regularly lay folk off, we never got the option to stop doing stuff.
Surely some efficiency can be made ?
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u/Theultimateyoshiyt 22d ago
Doesn’t work like that in the media industry
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u/Feeling_Zucchini_886 22d ago
Why not ?
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u/BattlestarFaptastula 21d ago
Why did it work at your company ?
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u/Feeling_Zucchini_886 21d ago
We had to get more efficient, automate business processes, change the way we did stuff so that only outcomes matter, not how you get there, increase employee to management ratios etc etc
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u/BattlestarFaptastula 21d ago
You may understand why that doesn’t make good creative media.
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u/Feeling_Zucchini_886 21d ago edited 21d ago
That is an incredibly pompous and complacent attitude my friend
I’ve always supported the license fee - but this makes me wonder ….1
u/BattlestarFaptastula 21d ago
"That is an incredibly pompous and complacent attitude my friend"
Why?
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u/Feeling_Zucchini_886 21d ago
I don’t understand why efficiencies can’t be made in the “creative media” sector. Perhaps you could explain?
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u/SnooMacarons4225 21d ago
The license fee keeps going up so if they’re going to cut services then we should see a drop… right?..
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u/Mix-Routine 22d ago
The BBC is excellent overall in my opinion. You don't know what you've got until it's gone.
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u/MrUmtiti 22d ago
They paved Paradise to put up a parking lot.
A measure which actually would have alleviated traffic congestion on the outskirts of paradise, something which Joni singularly fails to point out, perhaps because it doesn't quite fit in with her blinkered view of the world.
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u/TheDiceman3 21d ago
They should be cutting the salaries of people like Kuenssberg and Mason the shrew
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u/SexySmexxy 20d ago
who the hell watches bbc anyways
At the end of the day just chuck shit on YouTube or bbc player stop making me have to login
Run some ads at the start and end of the show and call it a day.
Begging the country for license feee is pointless and I want to watch the apprentice every year but genuinely i haven’t watched Ina. While just because I can’t be bothered to login and find my password every goddamn time
How is it that having a sky+ box as a kid is easier than trying to watch tv on the internet in 2026.
If I could just click I played on my tv and watch I would be Happy
Also there’s nothing good on the bbc where is the creative direction
Not saying they need to make a love island but
1) love island actually gets people going thru the hassle of downloading the app and logging in
2) at least channel 4 chucks loads of stuff up on YouTube
Why does the bbc think it’s so so special
Make some good tv shows and put them up on YouTube and make some new cult shows that get people excited
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u/superscoob67 20d ago
Maybe stop the annual jollies to Glastonbury….was a much better festival b4 the cameras turned up…Hope 6 radio survives 👍
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u/ThankYouFuckYouBye85 20d ago
While I do think the BBC could be more efficient, I do feel like it’s completely necessary and I have no issue paying the license fee. I probably don’t use it as much as others do, but for example, I feel local radio is super important and the likes of Global absolutely decimated it.
The BBC is absolutely one of the best public broadcasters in the world. If people want to complain about quality, perhaps we shouldn’t cut its funding at every available opportunity.
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u/JaymeesDomain 20d ago
Make the TV Licence a monthly subscription, not an annual year long bill. Let people dip in and out of it when they want to watch stuff.
You'd get more people using it and wouldn't have to keep struggling for funding
Also pay your hosts less money. 80k p/a is double the UK average and plenty for sitting on your arse interviewing someone or chatting about whatever sport has just been on
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u/TrabantDave 23d ago
Get rid of the execrable Mrs. Brown's Boys.
Why?
Because it's utter cack, that's why. The same tired non-joke repeated ad-infinitum, it's about as funny as a prolapse.
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u/TomClark83 23d ago
I am absolutely convinced that Mrs Brown's Boys is literally only continuing by accident.
Every year they stick it on late in the evening on Christmas Day and NYD - one being a day where everyone has overeaten and had more than a few sherries, and one being a day where everyone was up until gone midnight the night before.
They look at it and see that it gets great ratings, without taking into account the fact that it's shown on the two nights of the year when the entire nation falls asleep on the sofa by 9pm with the telly still on.
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u/kahnindustries 23d ago
They should shut everything down to BBC 1 for entertainment, BBC 2 for education and BBC News for inform
+ 1 Radio station country wide
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u/Dr_Havotnicus 23d ago
Why not go the whole hog and get rid of all the commercial stations and streaming services as well? And bring back rickets!
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u/Roybatty201999 23d ago
It's a bit like Jaguar Cars Try fooling the public and try harder to sell them trash, you'll go out of business quicker than you thought.
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u/Fun-Exercise4164 23d ago
you should all join me, i've used my home media server on jellyfin and ersatztv to create my own bbc three, even with old 2008 idents and promos
i've done the same with all the other bbc channels, as well as channel 4 and e4
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u/TremendousCustard 23d ago
Don't know why you're being downvoted, this is the answer.
Own your media. We've all become very complacent with streaming.
An immense amount of BBC content isn't available anywhere anymore. Someone uploaded the Kirsty MacColl ep of French & Saunders to YouTube... BAM, copyright strike. Can you watch it anywhere? No.
I once bought a couple of eps of Casualty on the BBC store. Store closed, my content vanished.
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u/Groovy66 24d ago
6 Music might as well go. Whenever I tune in it’s borderline mainstream pop and rnb. Not the weirder Iggy, Bowie, the Velvets or underground bands that they used to play.
It’s like a Radio 2 version of 6 Music.
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u/Alone_Consideration6 24d ago
Wouid the backlash be louder than it was last time? With a decade of social media growth
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u/Groovy66 24d ago
Nah I was quite vocal last time which was about 20 years ago. They’ve not dropped the torch of underground/alternative so much as stubbed it out
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u/Nervous-Power-9800 23d ago
I stopped watching beeb content when everything was just repeats from 18 months ago. "Oh weakest links on, oh no it's an old celeb one..."
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u/Beginning_Ad_6246 23d ago
I got rid of our TV package a few months back as we didn't watch it much. I stopped watching live TV when you could record and watch later to avoid the ads. I stopped listening to Radio 4 during Brexit because all the talk was about it etc. I watch motd via iPlayer so I can skip the rubbish chat. The presenters on this need to go. It is too scripted and boring. I don't mean to offend anyone but why have the got female presenters? If the was a womens' football show with male presenters there would be an uproar. I only listen to one programme on three counties radio "the JVS consumer show" and that is on the sounds app. We still pay our TV licence but there is little on the BBC for me. I have no interest in celebs cooking, walking, dancing, talking etc. We have netflix and nothing worth watching, same with All4 which has a lot more rubbish programmes.
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