BBC Three to Return as a Linear Channel in 2022

The BBC is planning to make BBC Three a linear broadcast channel once again, set to relaunch in January 2022.

The move is part of an effort to deliver more value to audiences. The BBC plans to double the investment in BBC Three commissions over the next two years.

The returning BBC Three will deliver greater public value by further increasing the diversity and creativity of the BBC’s output and build on the strengths of BBC Three’s online performance. At least two-thirds of the expanded BBC Three’s program spend will be outside of London and across the U.K.

The channel will be targeted at audiences aged 16 to 34 and will broadcast from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. each day, the same as the hours of the channel when it closed in 2016. As a result, CBBC’s broadcast hours will revert to closing at 7 p.m., as was the case before 2016.

The plan is to then expand the remit of BBC Three with a pre-watershed content offer suitable for 13-plus.

Charlotte Moore, chief content officer, said: “BBC Three is a BBC success story, backing creativity, new talent and brave ideas has resulted in hit after hit, from Fleabag and Man Like Mobeen, Ru Paul’s Drag Race U.K. and Jesy Nelson’s Odd One Out to Normal People and This Country.

“The BBC needs to back success and make sure its programs reach as many young people as possible wherever they live in the U.K. So regardless of the debates about the past, we want to give BBC Three its own broadcast channel again. It has exciting, groundbreaking content that deserves the widest possible audience and using BBC iPlayer alongside a broadcast channel will deliver the most value.”