Credits roll on-air for the final time as BBC3 becomes online only

Channel aimed at younger audience, which launched 13 years ago, sees budget cut from £85m to £30m as it stops broadcasting on television

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, as the credits for Gavin and Stacey rolled for one last time, the era of BBC3 as a traditional television channel came to an end.In a cost-saving move for the BBC, the channel, launched 13 years ago, becomes the first in the world to make the transition from TV broadcast to a solely online platform as BBC3’s budget is cut from £85m to £30m, with the savings ploughed into drama on BBC1.The channel was launched in 2003 and set out to create programmes that brought in younger audiences between the ages of 16 and 24, broadcasting to around 11m viewers each week. It was responsible for launching the careers of James Corden and Matthew Horne on Gavin and Stacey, David Walliams and Matt Lucas on Little Britain and Julia Davis on Nighty Night.