Jarvis Cocker not 'too bothered' about BBC Three axe

6 Music presenter and former Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker has defended plans to axe BBC Three, saying "young people don't watch television".

"It's all about tablets for them so we shouldn't be too bothered," the musician told Radio Times.

Earlier this month the BBC's director general Tony Hall announced plans to make BBC Three available only online, subject to approval by the BBC Trust.

He said the cost-cutting plans were "financially necessary".

While many celebrities including Jack Whitehall, Matt Lucas and Greg James have spoken out against the cuts, other high-profile names have been supportive of the move.

"BBC Three as a channel should always be at the forefront of things that are new and exciting," said James Corden, whose comedy Gavin & Stacey found success on the station.

"So long as BBC Three keeps making interesting shows and good shows that are aimed at a young audience then that audience will find it."

At the launch of the new BBC Arts programme, Hall said BBC Three remained key to the corporation's future.

He said iPlayer would help "engage with audiences", as would the eventual broadcast of all BBC Three programmes on BBC One.

The director general described the new plans for BBC Arts as its "strongest commitment to the arts in a generation".

"The arts are for everyone, and from now on BBC Arts will be at the very heart of what we do."

Asked by the Radio Times website whether the BBC, or its current system of funding through the licence fee, would eventually end if young people stopped watching television in large numbers, Cocker said: "Well, we mustn't worry about that. We should worry about what we do now.

"If the next generation want the BBC, they will have it."

Cocker is on a sabbatical from his Sunday evening BBC Radio 6 Music show, with Iggy Pop standing in for him.

He told RadioTimes.com that he was taking a year away from his presenting duties on Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service, in order to "find out if I have any creative energy left".

He is working on new music but ruled out a Pulp reunion.

"We have done that, we won't do it again," he said. "But hopefully I will find a way of inflicting any new music on an unsuspecting public."

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