After months of campaigning to keep BBC Three from becoming an online-only channel, the Save BBC Three campaign was hit with a massive blow after the BBC Trust delivered its verdict on the future of the channel. The Trust stated that, “those aged 16 to 34 are already far more likely than any other group to use online video services and the BBC is right to anticipate the need to service this audience in new ways”. This, to an extent is true, however by removing content for young people, it feels like the BBC is saying “well your programming isn’t that important anyway, we want to focus more on the stuff for grown ups“.
As one of the many people that signed the petition, I feel like it’s such a major loss for us. For once, us young people were getting a platform, we were able to get our voices out there and say ‘No!’, make a noise and tell the bosses that we didn’t want them taking our channel. It’s so obvious that young people’s voices mean nothing to the controllers and men in suits. What really upsets me is that these companies continue to say that they want to reach out to young people, but when young people tell them what they actually want, nobody wants to listen.
I think this truly is a bad move for the Beeb, they are totally isolating a large part of the population, who in years to come are going to be the license fee payers. So if the BBC can’t even listen to the masses now, what makes them think that this same audience will want to consume their content in the future. It’s a sad sad day for trying to make a difference and for young people having their voices heard.
#Peace.Love.BBCThree
