BBC Threeis a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including comedy, reality shows, documentaries, news, current affairs, adult animation, and drama series. The television channel closed down in 2016 and was relaunched in 2022 after being replaced by an online-only BBC Three streaming channel. The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBBC (which starts at 7:00 am)
BBC Three is the BBC's youth-orientated television channel, its remit to provide "innovative programming" to a target audience of viewers between 16 and 34 years old, leveraging technology as well as new talent. Unlike its commercial rivals, 90% of BBC Three's output originated from the United Kingdom. Notable exceptions were Family Guy and American Dad (both of them originating in the United States). It and sister channel BBC Four also carry occasional BBC Sport programming as an overflow for the BBC's other channels.
Following budget cuts at the BBC, the first iteration of BBC Three ceased operations on 16 February 2016, despite public opposition, moving to a BBC Three-branded streaming channel on the iPlayer. It returned to broadcast television in the form of a late-night strand on BBC One on Monday to Wednesday nights since 4 March 2019. On 2 March 2021, the BBC confirmed that it planned to relaunch BBC Three's linear television channel in 2022 subject to regulatory approval, which was approved in November that year.
