The BBC has petitioned the Trust to extend BBC3's hours into the afternoon, and is planning to give some of the extra space to its teen strand Switch.

The corporation wants to bring forward BBC3's start time from 7pm to closer to teatime to reach more teenage viewers.

Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, told Broadcast: “We want to extend our hours on BBC3 into the afternoon - so Switch would have a role there as well. It would be after school hours. That would be one part of how we would want to use that air time.”

The corporation does not expect a decision from the Trust until 2009, when it is also due to hear if it will be able to extend CBBC's hours into the evening, from a 7pm finish to 9pm.

If the BBC3 plan gets the go-ahead, it is not known whether the time that the channel gives to Switch will replace the strand's Saturday afternoon slot on BBC2 or whether it will be additional or repeated content.

But Bennett explained: “We want to make sure that in a natural way we are giving more space to kids.”

She described the Switch strand as “an important investment” in the positive representation of British teens, but she also said that the BBC will still only provide “part of the solution” for teen viewers.
“We are not going to be this full-on service for teens. We can be part of that solution and I think it's a good thing that C4 has always served teens.”

C4 has also recently emphasised its provision for younger teens in line with its petition for public funding after digital switchover. In March, it pledged to plough an additional£10m into programming for children aged 10 to 15.

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