[benzj]

Even CBBC with a far higher budget, varied content and a big broadcaster with frequent cross promotion behind it is able to be beaten on two of three metrics by Pop, made up entirely (I think) of acquisitions.

Mostly correct, though Pop did commission and premiere an original of their own last year, Swipe It with Joe Tasker: kidscreen.com 

I think Pop being successful enough to consider originals is more of an indictment of how CITV has been run over the years than any trends in UK kids' TV; as much as I'm not in the target audience in terms of age or geography, CITV's reliance on the kids' TV fund for this latest batch of originals (and the cancellation of Scrambled!) signaled clearly enough to me that maybe their heart wasn't truly in it anymore.

Even just amongst acquisitions, Pop and its siblings have seemed a bit more eager over the years, especially in Narrative's hands, with picking up new series than CITV has, in my limited experience with them -- even right now, looking at the EPGs, I can point out about four or five shows on the Pop and Pop Max schedules that have premiered there within the past year or so. CITV's only really started to pick up to a similar pace recently, whereas for the longest they seemed more than content with [i]Mr. Bean[i], [i]Horrid Henry[i], and whatever was cheap enough to grab from Cartoon Network (and Disney Channel, Disney XD and/or Canada before that). Not to denigrate the US as a programming source (and Pop has a Canadian show or two on their lineup at the moment as well, I'm not suggesting that's the issue), but maybe being disconnected from a major broadcaster (in kids' TV or otherwise) has perhaps made the Pop channels a bit pluckier than if they were shoved down the couch cushions of a bigger brand in the way CITV has felt at times. As much as I appreciate the renewed vigor over there, perhaps the reputational damage has likely already been done.