[Brekkie]

Would be interesting to know the ratings for the slot compared to what CITV had in the breakfast slot, the weekend ITV1 ratings and how ITV2 rated previously.

I always thought CITV was pretty well advertised on ITV so it'll be a shame if ITVX Kids doesn't get a similar level of promotion.

[CCFG]

May I ask, has the ex-GMTV2 license moved to ITVBe? The 0900 programme on ITV2 ends after 0925, and at least this week, there's now a programme listed to start at 0925 (today it was 'The Hive' on LittleBe) every day on ITVBe.

[Joe]

I feel like sometimes people forget that ITV is a business and its aim is to make money. That is goal number one, and other values and ambitions come second to that. So it is natural that they got shot of children’s programming. Since the junk food advertising ban, the programming just clearly doesn’t bring in money, or not enough to justify the expense of running a children’s service.

In many ways that is fair enough – they are a public service and therefore have to broadcast things they might not want to and that may in themselves be loss-making, but they are fulfilling this by broadcasting the kids’ stuff on ITV2. If you don’t think this is good enough, arguably you should take this up with Ofcom, not ITV.

As for the junk food ad ban itself - I agree with its aims, though I wonder if mandating food companies produce less processed/unhealthy crap would have been the solution rather than simply who it is marketed to. But that’s a political discussion about liberalism and the impact of policies on people’s lives, so not for here.

In short, ‘care’ doesn’t come into the decision, to a point. If an entire channel makes a loss and doesn’t drive people to other services, why would a business continue with that?

Which leads me to my final point: you could make an argument that there is something of a void for ITV in gaining brand recognition to under 18s which is only partially filled at the moment. When I was a kid it was CBBC for me, which led into the more grown up BBC stuff as I aged. If ITVX can make a success of their kids stuff then there is no problem. This forum has a hard time accepting that streaming is the future but it is true – it’s more a case of which steamers will survive that whether streaming itself will survive.

[nwtv2003]

May I ask, has the ex-GMTV2 license moved to ITVBe? The 0900 programme on ITV2 ends after 0925, and at least this week, there's now a programme listed to start at 0925 (today it was 'The Hive' on LittleBe) every day on ITVBe.

I don’t think so, I think it’s the norm for LittleBe to have programmes at 9:25am. If it was contractual there’d probably be a black screen pause at 9:25am which did occur when CITV was on ITV1, not sure if this occurred on the channel though. 

On a side note it’s interesting to see how many ex-BBC kids shows have turned on ITV of late, such as Pingu, Bob the Builder and now Postman Pat. I know they’re all made by independents with newer variants of the formats but they’re all very well associated with the BBC.

[Hybrid]

On a side note it’s interesting to see how many ex-BBC kids shows have turned on ITV of late, such as Pingu, Bob the Builder and now Postman Pat. I know they’re all made by independents with newer variants of the formats but they’re all very well associated with the BBC.

A Teletubbies spin-off coming to ITV soon as well.

[Rex]

I feel like sometimes people forget that ITV is a business and its aim is to make money. That is goal number one, and other values and ambitions come second to that. So it is natural that they got shot of children’s programming. Since the junk food advertising ban, the programming just clearly doesn’t bring in money, or not enough to justify the expense of running a children’s service.

In many ways that is fair enough – they are a public service and therefore have to broadcast things they might not want to and that may in themselves be loss-making, but they are fulfilling this by broadcasting the kids’ stuff on ITV2. If you don’t think this is good enough, arguably you should take this up with Ofcom, not ITV.

As for the junk food ad ban itself - I agree with its aims, though I wonder if mandating food companies produce less processed/unhealthy crap would have been the solution rather than simply who it is marketed to. But that’s a political discussion about liberalism and the impact of policies on people’s lives, so not for here.

In short, ‘care’ doesn’t come into the decision, to a point. If an entire channel makes a loss and doesn’t drive people to other services, why would a business continue with that?

Which leads me to my final point: you could make an argument that there is something of a void for ITV in gaining brand recognition to under 18s which is only partially filled at the moment. When I was a kid it was CBBC for me, which led into the more grown up BBC stuff as I aged. If ITVX can make a success of their kids stuff then there is no problem. This forum has a hard time accepting that streaming is the future but it is true – it’s more a case of which steamers will survive that whether streaming itself will survive.

Exactly. If its not going to make money, why continue to invest in a channel that is dwindling in viewership.

ITV know ITVX is their future going forward whereas keeping a linear channel that only received up to 5,000 viewers at peak-time is not worth the return of investment. We've passed the road of no return for children's linear services a long while ago.

[WillPS]

CITV on ITV2 seems to be showing CITV break bumpers this morning.

[Rex]

To really follow up on previous posts I'd have no doubt that whatever ITV has implemented with regards to children's content being shown on linear post-CITV closure, the BBC will definitely be observing on what decision to make if CBBC ends up closing.

BBC Two and by extension BBC Three would definitely end up having stricter requirements from Ofcom to ensure CBBC content still has a place on linear if the closure is approved. I doubt that we will know more until next year

[WillPS]

A CITV branded FAST channel on ITVX is still showing for me on Roku, seems to be linked to the same output as the satellite barker loop, but no DOG. I'm not sure if the satellite feed is still active as I'm not home.

[Rex]

A CITV branded FAST channel on ITVX is still showing for me on Roku, seems to be linked to the same output as the satellite barker loop, but no DOG. I'm not sure if the satellite feed is still active as I'm not home.

 It was up on Virgin as well until they took it down on Friday. I'm pretty certain it's still active. Just looping a promotion for ITVX Kids