BBC Three suffers 10% budget cut

BBC Three's budget for 2008/9 has been cut from around £93m to £83m, according to a report.

The significant reduction has been put down to BBC budget constraints. BBC Three's programming is said to be the most expensive of any BBC service when measured in cost per hour per viewer.

Controller Danny Cohen now plans to air around three original drama series each year, according to MediaGuardian. New series on the way include Spooks: Code 9, Phoo Action and Being Human.

BBC Three is also said to be making its factual programming more "thoughtful", partly at the request of the BBC Trust.