Back in 1983, ITV introduced the children's TV strand that is CITV. On March 11th, 2006, only 2 months after ITV's rebrand, CITV launched its own channel, and that channel has been with us ever since... until now. In March 2023, ITV announced that its linear CITV channel will close down this autumn as content switches to streaming service ITVX. In July the broadcaster will launch a new 'Kids' section on ITVX, accessible through child-safe ITVX Kids profiles, featuring over 100 titles amounting to more than 1,000 hours of content. Programmes available include Lloyd of the Flies, The Rubbish World of Dave Spud and Lily's Driftwood Bay, alongside classics such as the animated Mr Bean series, Sooty and Teletubbies Let's Go, as well as some new acquisitions from "a broad spectrum of distributors". While CITV as a channel is closing, ITV intends to continue its pre-school morning segment LittleBe on the ITVBe channel and will also launch some kids' content on ITV2's early-morning schedule from September to promote ITVX Kids. The CITV channel, which broadcasts between 6am and 9pm daily, launched on March 11th, 2006 and has an audience share of just 0.09%, according to the latest BARB figures. Yeah... how sad. Rest in peace, CITV. (2006-2023)
Thank you ITV, for making kids' TV so exciting and fun for viewers aged 6-12! And thank you again ITV, for kindly accepting to launch some kids' content on ITV2 early in the morning in September later this year! We'll NEVER forget CITV... well, at least CBBC's still going until it moves online in 2025! R.I.P. CITV - 2006-2023 Long live ITVX Kids! Music used: Blame by John Newman ft. Calvin Harris
