BBC Three launch date set

BBC Three, the replacement for BBC Choice, is set to launch on February 9 2003.
The channel, which will aim at the 25-34 age group, promises a "rich, mixed and contemporary schedule".
Shortly after the channel was given the green-light by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, the channel's controller Stuart Murphy said: "The creatives at Lambie-Nairn have done a really good job. Hopefully viewers are starting to get a sense that BBC Three is going to inhabit a completely separate space in the multi channel world – one which is about being multi-culturally British, about nurturing new talent and about encouraging and guiding creative risk."
The channel has fairly tough stipulations for programming content: 80% of total programming on the channel must be commissioned specially for BBC Three, with 90% of the total being produced in Europe. Jowell described the channel as being "genuinely distinctive, genuinely public service and genuinely innovative."
A quarter of the channel's budget is to be spent on independent productions.
(GB)