BBC Three will stop broadcasting as a TV channel in spring 2027, and BBC Radio 4 Extra will go off air as a radio station at the same time, the BBC has confirmed.
That means the scheduled channel on your TV guide and the station you tune a radio to will both go. The BBC says the programmes are not disappearing, and will be on iPlayer and BBC Sounds, its on-demand services where you pick what to watch or hear and when.
It is the second time BBC Three has come off air. The channel went online-only in 2016 and returned to TV schedules in 2022.
The BBC Scotland channel closes in the spring too, although the BBC says it will remain a channel on iPlayer, with its content also shown on BBC One and Two in Scotland.
BBC Three and Radio 4 Extra: where the programmes go after spring 2027
New BBC Three commissions will go out on iPlayer and other platforms including YouTube, according to the BBC, which says it is putting more money into content for younger audiences.
Programmes from Radio 4 Extra will move to BBC Sounds, the BBC says. The Daily Service will be on Sounds and BBC local radio.
The closures come while the UK Government weighs the future of the aerial itself, with a Freeview switch-off from as early as 2034 among the options it has consulted on.
The £500 million the BBC has to save by 2028
Staff were told about the changes on Tuesday morning. They are part of savings of £500 million that the BBC says it must make by 2028.
Director-General Matt Brittin told staff in a note: “We need to make every pound work harder for audiences as we respond to the immediate cost pressures and reinvent the BBC for a changing world. We all know that means tough choices.”
On the closures, he said: “Much of the great content they currently carry will still be found where audiences already enjoy it on iPlayer and Sounds. While this follows media speculation, I recognise the confirmation of this news will be hard for audiences and colleagues.”
BBC News savings plans due early next year
More changes were also announced in BBC News on Tuesday, the BBC said. Its new Director of BBC News, Rachel Jupp, will set out plans for further savings early next year.
Other parts of the BBC will confirm their own savings plans in the coming months, it said. Savings had already been announced in BBC Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Local, News and Speech and Sounds.
Roy Noble, Radio Cymru and 45 jobs: the BBC Wales cuts set out in September
In Wales, the BBC had already set out its savings in September. BBC Wales said on 24 September it expected to cut around 45 full-time equivalent roles, including management roles, and to make around 20 fewer hours of English-language television a year.
The same September plans confirmed Roy Noble is leaving BBC Radio Wales in the spring. “We will make an announcement soon about our new line up for the spring when Roy Noble will be leaving us and Lynn Bowles’ programme will come to an end,” the BBC said.
On Radio Cymru, Dros Ginio ends next year and a new one-hour Friday lunchtime politics round-up, Yr Wythnos, arrives, while the Gwleidydda podcast goes out on Saturday mornings in place of Dros Frecwast. Ar y Marc is replaced by the Coridor Ansicrwydd football podcast, Rhaglen John Hardy and Bwletin Amaeth end, and a new breakfast programme will go out on both Radio Cymru and Radio Cymru 2 until 7am, the BBC said.
Public tours of BBC Central Square in Cardiff are also ending. And in September, the BBC warned: “There will however be further savings to make.”
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