BBC4 will be full of repeats as bosses go for youth

TV bosses confirmed yesterday that BBC4 is to become largely a repeats channel as the corporation continues to focus on bringing in younger audiences.

They said the channel, known for its arts and history programmes, will ‘become the home of the most distinctive content from across the BBC’s archive’.

The news came as the BBC’s plans for the year ahead were laid out, revealing how it would plough more money into appealing to younger age groups. There are also proposals to reinstate BBC3 as a traditional television channel when it returns next January.

According to the BBC Annual Plan, it will ‘invest in more young-appealing British drama and comedy, entertainment and events which bring the whole nation together’.

The BBC4 move is expected to see far fewer new shows with ‘classic drama, comedy and documentary’ filling the schedules. The channel will still broadcast performances such as the BBC Proms and BBC Young Musician.

The scale of the change needs an ‘ amendment’ to the BBC’s Operating Licence which

‘Classic drama, comedy and documentary’

will be ‘subject to the appropriate regulatory approval process’.

Yesterday the corporation added that BBC4’s ‘current archive content offer’ already comprised 76 per cent of its broadcast hours.

The channel has screened popular shows including Hattie, which attracted 1.7million viewers for the biopic about Hattie Jacques, and The Curse of Steptoe, drawing in 1.4million. Other hits include The Thick of It, Detectorists and Twenty Twelve.

Bosses said they want to ‘deliver more value’ in arts and music coverage by ‘ focusing on unique, high-impact content’ with ‘fewer but bigger titles’. Spending on arts and music on BBC2 will double over the next two years.

The Annual Plan also highlighted how more money is being put into BBC3 to attract younger audiences with investment set to double in the coming years. Although the corporation is losing younger viewers to streaming channels like Netflix, the report admitted that the fastest rate of growth in online video use during the pandemic was in the over-55s.

The BBC also warned the rise of these services was ‘putting British storytelling at risk’.