BBC Three Moves to Online Through iPlayer

BBC Three (BBC 3) has finally made its move to online after it ceased broadcasting as a TV channel in the early hours of this morning.

The Beeb pulled the plug on its third station at 3.35am on Tuesday 16th February after 13 years of service as a Freeview and digital channel aimed at a hip younger audience and which ran from 7pm nightly. The station played host to a number of telly favourites including Family Guy and Gavin and Stacey but failed to maintain the viewing figures. In late 2014 it was decided by the broadcaster that the service would become online-only and the move was finalised last month when a new digital-friendly logo was revealed ready for the relaunch.

Primarily operating through the BBC iPlayer platform on computers, tablets and smart devices, BBC Three (or BBC II!) will also play a part in the BBC’s social presence on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter keeping it trendy with the youth market and fully linking up with the Beeb’s other digital media outlets online.

[Previous Article – Published 5 January, 2016]
As BBC Three prepares to go online-only the broadcasting corp. has released a first look at the station’s brand new logo. And it’s raised quite some exclamation.

The questionable new branding features two white lines and what appears to be a white exclamation mark on a shocking pink background. It looks more like someone’s really excited about BBC 2 going Roman – rather than something intended for the Beeb’s third channel. But apparently this new logo cost the company hundreds of thousands to get designed.

Even the BBC’s own website has highlighted the criticisms made against the redesign since it was revealed and taken it in jest and the head of BBC Three (sorry, that’s BBC II!) is not worried about the ridicule received on social sites such as Twitter.

It’s not the first time that the BBC Three logo has received a revamp and has gone from featuring a bold and capitalized THREE to a more stylised conjoined Three. The BBC explains the new logo is intended to work better as an app icon and a better fit for the move to web.

The new BBC Three logo has been added to the BBC iPlayer alongside BBC 1, BBC 2 and before BBC 4 and despite looking a bit out of place still offers a full selection of live and on-demand programming.

BBC Three has been broadcasting as a television channel available on Freeview and subscription services such as Sky and Virgin TV since February 2003. It will close and will make a full move to iPlayer in February 2016 after thirteen years of service.