BBC Trust

Almost all those at the event were heavy users of BBC Three with an in-depth knowledge of the channel’s schedules and output. Amongst the most popular programmes were American Dad, Family Guy, Bad Education, Being Human and the channel’s documentary output. Comedies were a key element of their viewing and one of the key attractions of the channel.  

There was a lot of praise for the 60 Second News bulletins on BBC Three with one participant speaking for many when he said “It’s good because it’s quick and lets you know what’s going on in the world”. Another said “if something interests me on 60 Second News I’ll go on-line to look for more. I’ll then also look for information on stories that are not in the headlines - less important stories”.

While a high proportion of them said that their broadband speeds were good enough to watch video content on-line there was a consensus that it would be a retrograde step for the channel to become an on-line only proposition. A number of reasons were given for this opposition:

-          it would mean that you weren’t able to multi-task – do homework and have BBC Three on in the background on the TV.

-          It would mean the loss of social TV watching time with the family

-          The main means of finding content on BBC Three – channel ‘surfing’ – would not be available.

-          The importance to teenagers of “having their own channel”

-          Difficulties experienced in using and navigating the BBC iPlayer though others were huge fans. As one participant put it “the iPlayer is the best thing the BBC has brought out”.

-          One participants expressed the view of a high proportion of those present when he said “If you need to axe a channel then why not BBC Four? Most of its programmes could be on BBC Two but there’s nowhere else on the BBC’s TV channels that could carry BBC Three programmes”.

-          There was a general welcome to the idea of creating a BBC One+1 channel, because using such a service on other channels was common practice amongst broadcasters.

-          One suggestion was that one way in which the change to having BBC Three as an on-line only offering might be create a dedicated app to facilitate viewing.

Other TV output was also mentioned by participants, with EastEnders and Top Gear being the most frequently mentioned programmes, but drama and comedy being genres of great importance. There were however mixed views regarding EastEnders with one participants expressing the view that “EastEnders ruins the BBC Three schedule” though others considered it an appointment to view, and also appreciated the on-line EastEnders game. Other programmes mentioned included Doctor Who, James May’s Toy Stories, Scrum V, Ripper Street and Sherlock.

A number of participants were also fans of Question Time, with the programme’s mix of panellists being one of the reasons why they were attracted to watch. The BBC’s news and current affairs output was also considered useful and a key part of the viewing of participants, though there was a perception that its perspective was very ‘centralised’ on Westminster and London.

Sport was a popular element of the BBC’s TV output, with coverage of the FA Cup football tournament being considered first class and in general the view expressed that “football coverage is much better on BBC than ITV.” 

A number of those present were regular listeners to the radio, with travelling time in a car being the main period when listening took place. These were predominantly to music radio stations, with BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 being popular. A key attraction was that both stations played up to date music, and the music was the key aspect of the proposition, with the chatter between songs considered distracting. As one participant said “I much prefer it when they don’t talk all the time, especially when they talk over the track being played”. A small number of those present listened to Radio 1 via the radio app on their smartphone and others would often follow-up a song heard on the radio, by seeking further information on it on the BBC website.

A number praised the BBC’s coverage of music festivals, and was the main reason they accessed Radio 1 Xtra, though there were some participants who also tuned in especially to the station for the late night show on Friday nights.

There were some participants who listened to speech radio, with Radio Wales’ sports discussion programmes being particularly popular – “I love the full-on arguments on Rob Phillips’ sports programme!” Other participants said they regularly listened to and appreciated the sports coverage - and in particular the rugby and football match commentaries - on Radio Cymru, though there were complaints about the poor quality of the reception.

Some participants felt that there was a significant paucity of women presenters on the BBC’s radio stations and that this needed to be remedied as quickly as possible.

There were a number of dedicated users of the BBC’s news and weather apps and services and was considered a very worthwhile service. A number also said that Bitesize had been very useful in terms of their earlier education, and that they had found the educational games particularly useful. Some said that they still regularly turned to the BBC website for educational research purposes.

Others said that they also made regular use of the BBC’s cookery website for recipes and found it exceptionally useful.

A significant number used the BBC iPlayer on-demand service and while a number agreed that “I don’t like the new layout” it was considered useful in terms of catching up on programmes that had been missed at the time of broadcast, though there were pleas for a better facility to be able to watch series – “I much prefer to watch a series in one long binge, as I can on Netflix, but often that isn’t possible on the iPlayer.” A high proportion of those present made use of Netflix with one participant summing up his experience of the service by saying “Netflix is more like a modern version of popping out to the video shop to rent a box set” and another describing it as “more like a library than a channel”. A number said that they would really appreciate being able to access an archive of the BBC’s past TV and radio programmes.

There was widespread support for the BBC and it was considered pivotal to promoting culture and education – “The BBC got me interested in politics”. However, it was not considered perfect, and concern was expressed by more than one person at the perceived pro-unionist bias in the coverage of the Scotland independence referendum in September 2014. As one participant put it – “the BBC was just not being impartial”.