[bbctvtechop]

This may be a very simplistic suggestion but why they don't just close down the extremely little watched linear BBC Three - I will never understand why it was brought back to linear television - and divert the saved money into the merged BBC News channel?

Assuming that content for younger viewers is still produced for iPlayer in the event of the linear Three channel closing again, they'd still have probably 95%+ of the cost. The installation of a computer and software to play it out, plus a daily newsreader, would essentially be the only "true" cost, with scheduling/commissioning/engineering/etc being rolled into existing posts/departments which already exist to service other parts of the BBC. The live elements (the news) is covered by existing news directors who just have The Catch Up added to their existing day and uses an existing studio.

Currently even the satellite space is covered (until the closure of CBBC, whenever that will occurs) as it uses the same frequencies etc to uplink - if it didn't exist and CBBC didn't re-extend its hours, then the BBC would actually be wasting money by paying for unused satellite/EPG time. 

The linear channel bit of BBC3 is extremely efficient to run. It's the content which costs the money, and I would be extremely surprised if the BBC were to take a decision to stop making that kind of content.