BBC Three is finally back on our screens
BBC Three is officially back on our TV screens from today after five years of absence.
The channel was pulled off air in a bid to attract younger audiences and drive digital presence.
Since then, it has scored mega hits, including RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and Normal People.
BBC Three will broadcast from 7pm every night, and will be available to watch on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and Freesat, as well as on BBC iPlayer.
The youth-focused channel will come back with a bang, launching with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Versus The World, and live football coverage, including the semi-finals and the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Other new releases coming to BBC Three include Santa Claus the Serial Killer – a six-part true-crime series that follows journalist Mobeen Azhar in Canada, exploring the case of serial killer Bruce McArthur – as well as Flight Club, a programme exploring life behind the scenes at an airline.
When it was first announced that the channel, which was home to the likes of Gavin and Stacey, was moving online, there were protests outside the broadcasting house and a petition signed by more than 300,000 people.
On the comeback, Simon Ward, Content Editor, at Redwood BBDO, creative studio, previously told City A.M.: “I’d have made the same call to close BBC Three as a broadcast channel in 2016. Younger audiences were deserting traditional TV, and its output was measured unfavourably next to the emerging streaming juggernauts.”
“Since then, the brand has been revitalised, creating some of the decade’s most acclaimed TV. Its return makes sense.”
However, the comeback also comes at a time when the broadcaster is under pressure to make financial cuts, following last month’s announcement that the license fee could be coming to an end in the foreseeable future.