[interestednovice]

I do think replacing BBC3/4 with a "boxset" channel could work best so new BBC3 style content is played out back to back over one or two nights then the rest of the week archive content takes priority.

I think, possibly, the only way that could be made to work from a branding perspective would be for the channel to be called something like “BBC Extra” instead of BBC Three. That way, “BBC Extra” would be presented as the replacement linear outlet for what-was BBC Three & BBC Four.

I do agree that the BBC Three demographic does get a particularly poor deal from the BBC, though. The only radio stations aimed at them are Radio 1 & 1Xtra, plus the new spinoff Radio 1 stations; BBC Three is the only linear outlet specifically for the demographic and even online content largely doesn’t appeal to them.

Compare that to the average middle aged person, for example, who arguably has Radios 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Music & their spinoffs; BBC One, Two & Four; the BBC website all arguably “aimed” at them.

Basically, it was a mistake to axe BBC Three before, certainly in the way they did, as it simply “went away”. The replacement online service hardly had any new content and was poorly promoted. This meant younger viewers were severely underserved. BBC Three only regained some traction once some programming started to be aired on BBC One, which shows the importance of linear even if only as a shop window. By the time the relaunch occurred, it was so much later on that the channel effectively had to start again. So “new BBC Three” was brought in. I think a big part of the thinking, unofficially, at the BBC was that BBC Four would be unsustainable as the focus shifted to iPlayer for access to archive content and the small amount of new niche content on the channel could no longer be justified anyway given budget cuts. So basically they would close BBC Four and CBBC (“because young people are always streaming anyway”) save on playout and distribution costs for one whole stream, and BBC Three would work as officially a “young person’s channel” but also be a fairly general entertainment and overspill channel. Partly this was because they were planning to not have BBC Four any more, and BBC Three could be more easily repurposed as both “younger viewers plus other content” than BBC Four being “archive content plus other content”. It also made no sense to have 1, 2 & 4!