ITV children’s channel CITV axed from TV after four decades

ITV have announced its children’s channel CITV will close this autumn in a streaming shake-up.

The change comes after the broadcaster made plans to move all programming to streaming platform ITVX —which launched a number of months ago —  as a response to ‘changing ways children and their parents are increasingly accessing content’. ITVX Kids will instead show children’s programmes for ages six-12, and is set to launch in July and be rolled out across the school holidays.

However, the broadcaster will maintain the LittleBe pre-school segment on ITVBe and will offer some children’s content in the early mornings on ITV2, from September. The release states: “ITVX Kids is part of ITV’s continuing drive to supercharge its presence in streaming, delivering content to audiences however they want to watch it.”

Craig Morris, Managing Editor of ITVX said: “We’re really excited to launch this dedicated destination for kids on ITVX, which will be home to a wealth of content including new series, recognisable brands and existing favourites for a range of ages, all in one child-safe area, with editorial curation to guide viewing.

“The wealth of content will be available to stream for free, with the option for parents to choose ad free viewing, through a subscription to ITVX Premium.”

The change comes as viewership of kids TV channels has dropped by 62 per cent since 2019, while streaming has increased by 30 per cent.

Explaining the ITVX Kids service, ITV said: “The Kids ITVX homepage, accessed within a child-safe ITVX Kids profile, will bring together over 100 brilliant titles in a dedicated homepage, with over 1000 hours of programming to choose from, a near doubling of the current offer, with curated rails and collections.

“The curated collections will feature a wide range of titles, including brand new programmes dropping monthly on the service, from July 2023. This new content will span a wide-range of genres and subjects including comedy, game shows, live action, animation and sport and sourced from a broad spectrum of distributors from small Independents as well as regional UK suppliers.

“The exciting range of new shows will complement existing favourites, including Lloyd of the Flies, Lily’s Driftwood Bay, Claude, Mumfie, Mystery Lane and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, which will also be available on ITVX Kids.

“Brand new episodes of The Rubbish World of Dave Spud are commissioned for broadcast in 2024 and they will be premiered on ITVX.”

CITV first launched in January 1983, initially as a late afternoon programming block for children aged five-13, before becoming its own channel in 2006. The exciting range of new shows on ITV Kids will complement existing favourites, including Lloyd of the Flies, Lily’s Driftwood Bay, Claude, Mumfie, Mystery Lane and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, which will also be available on ITVX Kids.