Former T4 presenter June Sarpong has said the BBC’s decision to close the BBC3 TV channel is “completely wrong” and “played into the hands” of the corporation’s critics.
Sarpong, recently hired by BBC2’s Newsnight as a contributor, said the decision to slash the channel’s budget and make it online-only was a “lost opportunity” for new and emerging talent.
“I think it’s completely wrong. If you look at the data, 75% or 80% of the audience is consuming that content on television, they’re not watching it online,” said Sarpong.
“In slashing the budget in the way they are, there is no real pull for developing young talent. When I was starting there were so many avenues for young talent to be nurtured and developed, that isn’t there any more, BBC3 was the last place for it, a real lost opportunity.”
She was speaking at a Question Time-style event run by Bafta in central London on Monday where Tory MP and Commons culture, media and sport select committee chairman John Whittingdale said the licence fee was unsustainable because younger viewers were switching off the BBC’s TV channels.
Sarpong said the closure of youth-orientated BBC3, which will save £15m to £20m, was “playing into the hands of John in the sense there will be a younger generation the BBC won’t be relevant for. It is very short sighted.”
The BBC’s drama chief, Ben Stephenson, said the channel axe was “the right thing to do but we are probably moving quicker than we would have liked”, echoing BBC director of television Danny Cohen’s comments in March, when the proposed closure was announced.
Rona Fairhead, the new chair of the BBC Trust, appeared to give her backing to the channel’s closure when she appeared before MPs last week, although management’s detailed proposals about its future are yet to be submitted to the trust.
Whittingdale claimed only 10% to 15% of BBC3 programmes were original British content in a schedule he said was dominated by US animated sitcom, Family Guy.
The MP also criticised the BBC’s decision to launch timeshifted channel BBC1+1. “I find it very difficult to understand and defend,” he said. “It strikes me the only justification is boosting ratings.”
Stephenson defended the launch, saying the timeshifted channel was “the modern way of watching TV”, with +1 ratings the second biggest audience after its original broadcast, followed by catch-up viewing and then the iPlayer.
Whittingdale responded: “The modern way of watching TV now is catch-up or download.”
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