Ghost BBC Three: Schedule Information.

TV Something I hadn't considered in relation to BBC Three's continued zombie-like existence on the television was how it would be recorded on the website.

Noticing that Mongrels had turned up on the iPlayer with a month left to watch, I checked the episode broadcast data and sure enough right at the bottom here's a broadcast listed for a channel which isn't officially supposed to be on television any more:



Which means that there has to be scheduling information on the website somewhere.

Along with the previously discussed A-Z, the remove of the live feed tab from the BBC's iPlayer page also removed the link to the schedule. Unlike the A-Z simply changing the channel information or adding data doesn't lead to the old mojo. This URL:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/schedules/bbcthree

Leads instead to a box with a link to the new BBC Three website. But the schedule information is there. If you Google for it.

Google: "bbc three schedule 6 march 2016"

And here we are on the old programme pages:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/programmes/schedules

Where clicking on the calendar at the top it's possible to see what'll be broadcast on ghost BBC Three in the future. Here's Monday 14th March ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/programmes/schedules/2016/03/14

... with its double bill of Don't Tell The Bride repeats.

Looking backwards through the days, this does seem to have become a mechanism for adding BBC Three's older material to the iPlayer.

The third series of Gavin and Stacey is getting umteenth run at the beginning of next week which'll presumably mean it'll be on the iPlayer for the following month.

How long will the BBC keep this version of the channel?  Not sure.  It is a useful way of maintaining the content on the iPlayer so that THREE! retains some of old character in this new online form.  Repeats like this were always a feature so it'd be odd for them to simply disappear.

It's just possible that because of the limited capacity it'll end on Freeview at some point but continue on satellite with just these two broadcast hours (as is true of some commercial stations) although I don't know if the BBC Trust broadcasting rules will allow for that due to universality of access or some such.

Anyway the upshot of all this is its now possible to see whats coming up on ghost BBC Three without having to keep pressing the "+24 hrs" button on an television EPG.