BBC3 move delayed until 2016

BBC3’s TV operations were originally timetabled to close in the autumn, but the Trust is still conducting a public value test and does not expect to publish preliminary conclusions until June.

BBC3 controller Damian Kavanagh told Broadcast: “Once we have the Trust’s final decision, we’ll start doing more online and in social, building up to a move online-only after Christmas.”

He said the deferral was necessary to build in sufficient time for marketing the online channel ahead of the move.

“You simply can’t turn around something as groundbreaking as this overnight. We won’t be rushed. We will do what’s right for our fans, not to satisfy deadlines,” he said.

Indies have claimed that uncertainty over the online launch has had an impact on commissioning for BBC3, complaining of a log-jam in recent months due to a lack of clarity.

One indie boss said: “The commissioning tap has been switched off at BBC3. We pitched stuff a month ago and have had no significant response. We then took the project direct to Damian and are yet to receive a reply. Nobody has any idea when normal service will be resumed.”

But Kavanagh said commissioning conversations were ongoing, with “very interesting ideas in the pipeline”.

A briefing for factual producers is scheduled for 30 April and an event for comedy producers will take place the following week. Kavanagh will reiterate at the meetings that BBC3 is “hungry for ground-breaking, distinctive ideas”.

There remains strong opposition to the proposals from some in the independent production sector.

Avalon boss Jon Thoday and Hat Trick chief executive Jimmy Mulville have made a high-profile bid to buy the channel, but have also laid out a number of other alternatives to the Trust. These include establishing BBC3 as a commercial, non-profit-making PSB along the lines of Channel 4, or creating a commercial BBC Worldwide joint venture, more akin to UKTV.

The pair have already met BBC trustees to discuss the options and were due to make their case directly to Trust chair Rona Fairhead as Broadcast went to press.

Thoday said he had sensed the timescale for BBC3’s plans might change. He said: “If it is wrong about its online TV proposal, which we think it is, then the BBC will start to look like a news operation that does history, documentaries and drama for the 55-plus.”

Mulville added: “About a month ago, when we raised concerns over the channel being dissolved before Trust approval, we received an email from [BBC Trust director] Jon Zeff saying that it did so ‘at its own risk’. Our argument is that it shouldn’t be risking public money.”

Jimmy Mulville and John Thoday have put four proposals to the BBC Trust that they believe can save BBC3 as a TV channel.

The Hat Trick and Avalon bosses have made a high-profile bid to buy the channel to prevent it turning into an online-only proposition but are also proposing a number of alternatives that would safeguard its future.

Option one

• Give BBC3 statutory corporation status, along the lines of Channel 4. It would be advertiser-funded and non-profit making, with revenues funneled back into commissioning, training and other public sector areas.

Option two

• Establish the channel as a UKTV-style 50/50 joint venture between BBC Worldwide and another commercial organisation. Mulville and Thoday have suggested a younger-skewing channel could sit well within the UKTV portfolio.

Option three

• Sell BBC3 to the highest bidder for it to be run as a PSB with a similar remit. The new channel would take existing programmes, but have a different name.

Option four

• Sell BBC3 to a group of true indies, including Hat Trick and Avalon, with a view to preserving the channel and using it to help sustain the next generation of indies. The channel’s remit would include helping to grow the sector.

See BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh speak at the Media Summit, part of Creative Week