Plans to axe BBC3 given go-ahead by BBC Trust

PLANS to take BBC3 off-air have been given the seal of approval by the BBC Trust.

The BBC Executive wants to move BBC3 – which has been home to shows from Gavin And Stacey and Cuckoo, to Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents – online to cut costs.

In its provisional conclusions outlined yesterday, the trust said that it had some “clear concerns” about the short-term impact of the change, including “a potential impact on the ability of the BBC to try out new ideas and develop new talent”.

In the short term the online channel would be likely to lose viewers, having a “much smaller audience than the broadcast channel it is replacing”.

But it said that the plans should be approved, as the online service would save £30 million a year and be more distinctive than the current BBC3 channel, whose audience is falling.

It said that the move should be dependent only on the executive agreeing to several conditions, including clearer commitments to shows on BBC1 and/or BBC2 which appeal to younger audiences.

It is bad news for campaigners who have battled to keep BBC3 alive as a TV channel and have called the move “disastrous” for the fostering of “new talent” and “innovative ideas”.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, Broadchurch actress Olivia Colman and Poldark’s Aidan Turner are among those who have signed an open letter on the issue.

More than 290,000 people have signed a petition to “save BBC3”.

Jimmy Mulville, who runs production company Hat-trick, which is behind hit shows including Father Ted and Have I Got News For You, has said that the proposed move online would be “the kiss of death” for the channel and leave it “competing with behemoths like Netflix and Amazon who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on one show”.