[cable]

Roger DarthwellSo if we put then into a chart CITV is right in the middle
Yes but when you consider that CITV has universal coverage it is:
Comfortably bottom amongst those with universal coverage (CBBC, CBeebies, Pop, Tiny Pop)
Behind two pay TV only channels (Nick Jr and Nick Jr 2)
I can well believe that ITV believe they can do better for children by putting stuff on ITVX and for themselves by using the capacity for a +1.
The ITV2 thing feels like a workaround to ensure they're meeting some license obligations, I suspect nobody will watch it and ITV will kill it off in the medium term (perhaps via ITV4).

Even though ITV2 isn't a PSB channel, they will absolutely use the CITV block to say that they are contributing to their quota for children's television. Albeit a much reduced one considering that they are using it to push cross promotion to ITVX, and they save money by eliminating an entire broadcast stream in the process.

Saved them going HD too on other platforms! Whereas ITVX is HD as standard.