[Steve in Pudsey]

The thing is it's not an anniversary of Children's programming, but of the national in-vision continuity between them which replaced Watch It!

Given that the current CITV channel doesn't have that in-vision pres it would be strange for it to have much of a celebration. Very different to the recent(ish) CBBC anniversary show.

[Kojak]

The thing is it's not an anniversary of Children's programming, but of the national in-vision continuity between them which replaced Watch It!

Given that the current CITV channel doesn't have that in-vision pres it would be strange for it to have much of a celebration. Very different to the recent(ish) CBBC anniversary show.

Well, no, not really. It's 40 years of the brand CITV - one which virtually everyone in the country knows, and one which ITV would be mad to ditch. I don't think there will be much of a celebration (sadly) but it would certainly be nice. Incidentally, if we count the mid-90s out-of-vision period, then CITV has now been without IVC for longer then it had it.

[Neil Jones]

The thing is it's not an anniversary of Children's programming, but of the national in-vision continuity between them which replaced Watch It!

Given that the current CITV channel doesn't have that in-vision pres it would be strange for it to have much of a celebration. Very different to the recent(ish) CBBC anniversary show.

Well, no, not really. It's 40 years of the brand CITV - one which virtually everyone in the country knows, and one which ITV would be mad to ditch. I don't think there will be much of a celebration (sadly) but it would certainly be nice. Incidentally, if we count the mid-90s out-of-vision period, then CITV has now been without IVC for longer then it had it.

If you want to be pedantic about it "CITV" didn't exist (properly) until probably 1996
It was previously "Children's ITV", which was all over the branding, though I appreciate "CITV" was all over the voiceover and the supplementary trailers, and I get the impression they couldn't make up their mind what they wanted to call the service!

There are examples on YouTube of the old 1991 logo still being used to an extent as late as 1996, when the DOG was introduced, though by that point it seemed to only appear on maybe intros and outros (indeed a video from 1997 suggested they'd dropped the vertical "Childrens" by 1997).

Although that being said, here's an identity crisis from 1991 when that look was first introduced - a corporate looking ident and then look what turns up on the telly behind Tommy:
www.youtube.com 

[harshy]

Well, no, not really. It's 40 years of the brand CITV - one which virtually everyone in the country knows, and one which ITV would be mad to ditch. I don't think there will be much of a celebration (sadly) but it would certainly be nice. Incidentally, if we count the mid-90s out-of-vision period, then CITV has now been without IVC for longer then it had it.

If you want to be pedantic about it "CITV" didn't exist (properly) until probably 1996
It was previously "Children's ITV", which was all over the branding, though I appreciate "CITV" was all over the voiceover and the supplementary trailers, and I get the impression they couldn't make up their mind what they wanted to call the service!

There are examples on YouTube of the old 1991 logo still being used to an extent as late as 1996, when the DOG was introduced, though by that point it seemed to only appear on maybe intros and outros (indeed a video from 1997 suggested they'd dropped the vertical "Childrens" by 1997).

Although that being said, here's an identity crisis from 1991 when that look was first introduced - a corporate looking ident and then look what turns up on the telly behind Tommy:
www.youtube.com 

I remember YTV using the corporate kids ident before the 12:10pm showing of the children’s programming at the time, we can only imagine Central wasn’t happy with what was produced and went with their considerably better effort (imho) instead, although dosent explain why Central showed it in the first place, I am sure it was eventually dropped after a few months.

[JAS84]

Must be noted that the decision to move back to a 7pm finish probably wasn't CBBC's decision to make.
And of course many other children's channels are pretty much 24/7 now, so its sort of a halfway house.

Anyway I'd suspect there are are more complicated issues around shoving "all kids content past and present" on ITVx. It will probably cost money at the very least, and of course ITV don't actually own a lot of it anyway (going back to the earlier discussion, Art Attack on ITVx won't be an option without chucking a load of money at Disney).

Nobody suggested Art Attack would be on ITVX - the suggestion was that it'd be on Disney+.

And yeah, CBBC reverted to a 7pm finish because BBC Three came back on air. Their channel controller would've had no say in that decision.

[James2001]

The generic 1989 CITV ident seemed to be used to open CITV into 1992 even though it didn't seem to be used elsewhere (and indeed lasted the switch from Stonewall back to Central in 1991 and a whole rebrand), perhaps its use at least once a day was mandated by the network centre?

[Milkshake]

The generic 1989 CITV ident was last seen in January 1993, Its believed it was only used for going into Whats up doc by this time. Most of the time it was only really used for the opening of CITV at 3.50.

[Steve in Pudsey]

I hadn't realised just how much of a broom cupboard rip-off ITV had in that Tommy Boyd era, right down to an in-vision preview monitor with the VT clock for the incoming programme

[mumu03]

CITV always feels like it’s not loved by ITV, look at how it wasn’t included in the recent rebranding (though some have said it may happen in the New Year). Long gone are the days of in vision presenters and even out of vision continuity, now even most trailers say that a programme is “on CITV” with no details of time, etc.

As I understand it, CITV's dedicated presentation department was cut down and then disbanded around 2015-16, with any remaining bare minimum obligations (i.e. the "on CITV" promos) now in the hands of effectively anyone available at ITV - programming commitments were shifted onto existing genre commissioners as well. Since that period at the very least, there hasn't been anyone working at ITV singularly to look after their children's output.

Of course it had all been ran on a shoestring since about 2004 anyway, certainly so after 2006 and the launch of the channel. But even then, there were several rebrands and refreshes from that point up to 2013, as well as award-winning campaigns e.g. the 'Share a Story' competitions and of course the successful 'Old Skool Weekend' one-off. The few original commissions that have continued to be made, while little in comparison to what the BBC still make, are admirable too.

Today however, especially with the Young Audiences Content Fund closed, it is pretty hard to imagine ITV putting much more aside for CITV moving forward. I can easily imagine it being quietly dropped for the apparent 'ITV Kids' brand as a digital-first concern in the short term, though the last time that name was being considered it came to nothing.

BFI Young Audiences Content Fund | BFI
The BFI Young Audiences Content Fund supported the creation of distinctive conte…
  Source: www.bfi.org.uk

[ChipperBird]

I'ld rather see an announcement of some of the older shows people remember getting some sort of streaming release (Home media would be nice too but suspect that ship has sailed)

It's not so bad for much of the aquired content, but shows like Splatz, Mike and Angelo & the Rottentrolls stuck with circulating the tapes.

Also I was just old enough to experience in-vision for CITV but it's always weird. I def remember watching Phillp Schofield in the broom cupboard but my memory better recalls Anglia's Birthday Card in-vision bits than it ever did the CITV in-vision stuff prior to the 1998 rebrand.