[Stooky Bill]

The most recent stats say 94% of the UK now has access to the Internet at home (compared to 93% who have a TV licence) and 99.7% of the UK have access to speeds of 10mbps or more - so I don't think the removal from linear is the issue it once was in terms of access to content.

Having access to 10Mbps Internet isn't the only requirement though. Access to things like smart TVs is becoming cheaper and easier, but I bet there's quite a few households without access to iPlayer on a TV, and a lot more with it only in one set. It's not as cheap or universal as over the air TV

[interestednovice]

Which is presumably the same reason why some CITV content remained on ITV2 after it's channel closed

I think one of the primary reasons, from ITV’s perspective, is that they clearly seem to have some programmes where the rights have been negotiated in such a way that content is only allowed on ITVX if it has had a recent linear airing - meaning that they only have “catch up” rights and not rights to host the content ad infinitum with it never being broadcast on TV.

To get around this, they broadcast all of these shows in a block on ITV 2 which qualifies as the linear showing. This is a very low effort affair, and doesn’t use ITVX Kids branding, so is clearly done only for this contractual reason.

Officially, of course, it is also to serve children in households with poor internet access, who might struggle to see the content on ITVX, and ITV will be making that argument to Ofcom to appease them - but I have no doubt that if they could solve the rights issues and receive assurances that Ofcom didn’t care if they showed anything on linear TV, they would drop it like a tonne of bricks! ITV are probably expecting to be able to, eventually, justify ending the block by pointing Ofcom towards its low ratings as justification that nobody is watching. They will do this once they have sorted out rights first, of course. In the meantime, they will simply keep broadcasting it totally unadvertised in an effort to suppress viewership.

The BBC are likely to have both of the same issues, potentially to an even greater extent, as: 1) it’s the BBC, everybody has to pay for it so the expectation to cater to everyone is heightened significantly; 2) they have a large archive of content they still show on their linear channels which may not have had rights negotiated with iPlayer as a “streaming boxset service” in mind; 3) Ofcom are always more careful about BBC obligations and are unlikely to give them a free ride. Given that they are the last free linear channel left standing on Freeview, there will be extra pressure not to leave the audience completely unserved (even if it is a small audience, it is likely to be one which genuinely relies on the service).

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a permanent block on BBC Two appeared every morning post-closure and such a block would likely have extended hours during school holidays. It would solve a bit of a problem for the BBC anyway, in a sense, as BBC One now has all the daytime programming and BBC Two is stuck with NC simulcasts and filler. To put some children’s programming there would make sense.

If they do go for that, of course, it will be back to the future in many ways!

[RegularCapital]

So did Fox Kids in the early days and so did TCC before they spun off Tiny Living and Trouble (who both also had IVC)- in fact it was a major part of TCC at one point.

I think Cartoon Network were the only kids channel of the era that didn't have IVC- though they did have periods of live continuity with real time animation (which IIRC was done by the same people who did Tricky (and The Chart Show) on ITV- and of course the Tricky animations were re-used on Pop for years, though not live.

Cartoon Network UK/Europe didn't have IVC for quite a few reasons:

1. The Nature of the Channel (Obviously): The Channel is about animation and not live-action.

2. Up until October 1999 in the UK, the channel was pan-European carrying different audio tracks (the pan-European aspect of the channel was spun-off from CN UK as a separate shadow feed which I will explain later*), dubbed over or non-dubbed IVC would be rather awkward.

3. Budget: The channel was still depending on its classics archive well into the 90's although originals from both Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Animation started to fill the schedule. Also the channel didn't opt for encryption and didn't join Sky pay-TV's packages, so they didn't see a penny from Sky subscriptions in the 1990's and early 2000's.

4. Animated "IVC" powered by pre-prepared live animation technology such as Toon FM and The Big Bravo did came about after October 1999, after this date, the channel was soft-scrambled (a Videocrypt decoder was required, but no subscription needed) and only UK and Ireland viewers should in reality be the only viewers that should be phoning in.

*Viewers in parts of Europe and Africa continued to receive an alternative version of Cartoon Network UK until 2001, this was identical to Cartoon Network UK and shadowed the channel's schedule, except some shows were substituted, this included Dragon Ball Z, this was due to broadcasting rights, and was true for a bunch of new third-party shows. A fully fledged version of a Cartoon Network pan-feed was launched in 2001, which was completely separate from CN UK. I explain this in better detail in my Toonami UK article: regularcapital-audiovisual-research.fandom.com 

History Of Toonami In The UK | RegularCapital Audiovisual Research Wiki | Fandom
This article explains the history of Cartoon Network's action and anime pro…
  Source: regularcapital-audiovisual-research.fandom.com

[Blubatt]

Cartoon Network UK/Europe didn't have IVC for quite a few reasons:

1. The Nature of the Channel (Obviously): The Channel is about animation and not live-action.

2. Up until October 1999 in the UK, the channel was pan-European carrying different audio tracks (the pan-European aspect of the channel was spun-off from CN UK as a separate shadow feed which I will explain later*), dubbed over or non-dubbed IVC would be rather awkward.

3. Budget: The channel was still depending on its classics archive well into the 90's although originals from both Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Animation started to fill the schedule. Also the channel didn't opt for encryption and didn't join Sky pay-TV's packages, so they didn't see a penny from Sky subscriptions in the 1990's and early 2000's.

4. Animated "IVC" powered by pre-prepared live animation technology such as Toon FM and The Big Bravo did came about after October 1999, after this date, the channel was soft-scrambled (a Videocrypt decoder was required, but no subscription needed) and only UK and Ireland viewers should in reality be the only viewers that should be phoning in.

*Viewers in parts of Europe and Africa continued to receive an alternative version of Cartoon Network UK until 2001, this was identical to Cartoon Network UK and shadowed the channel's schedule, except some shows were substituted, this included Dragon Ball Z, this was due to broadcasting rights, and was true for a bunch of new third-party shows. A fully fledged version of a Cartoon Network pan-feed was launched in 2001, which was completely separate from CN UK. I explain this in better detail in my Toonami UK article: regularcapital-audiovisual-research.fandom.com 

CNX and Toonami take me back. It's a shame that either of them didn't work. Mind you, UK Cartoon Network is limited to being a children's channel. US Cartoon Network is very much a family channel, but isn't necessarily just for kids, which gives it some qualities that allow blocks like Adult Swim and Toonami to thrive.

Talking of WBD children's channels past and present, remember UK Discovery Kids. That had a unique selling point, as it was the only kids channel, bar CBBC/Cbeebies to have some educational entertainment on it. That's something that has certainly been lost.

[Tola]

youtu.be 

youtu.be 

There was also Carlton Kids as well on OnDigital, which I'm pretty sure had limited coverage and wasn't initallt featured on listings in newspapers until later on

[JAS84]

It wasn't on Sky. Just OnDigital and cable. In those days, not being on Sky would've been crippling - it's no surprise that the Carlton channels didn't survive.

[nwtv2003]

It wasn't on Sky. Just OnDigital and cable. In those days, not being on Sky would've been crippling - it's no surprise that the Carlton channels didn't survive.

The YouTube clips have probably had more viewers than what the channel had first time around.

Like the remainder of the Carlton family of channels, a very good idea on paper and there was some thought, but when you have no budget along with next to no coverage then it was only ever going to go one way.

One of the channel’s presenters, Chuck Thomas usually shares some stuff on Twitter from his time there.

x.com 

x.com 

[James2001]

As we've mentioned IVC, the videos above show even Carlton Kids had that despite the miniscule viewing figures! Was such a major part of kids TV, it's a shame it all but died after the mid-00s apart from on CBBC.

Carlton Cinema lasted quite a while though, even outliving ITV Digital itself by a year, even without being on Sky. Had some suprisingly big and recent films at times as well considering- I remember Men In Black being on there.

[lookoutwales]

I remember it well - it was quite a good channel, to be fair.

Carlton Kids was kind of ahead of its time in that it had lots of archive ITV output (i.e. Worzel Gummidge, Children's Ward etc.) that would have been lapped up when CITV's Old Skool Weekend came around.

A lot of the in-vision Pres was pre-rec'd from Ealing - and in some cases, most of the same links would be reused every day ad nauseum for strands like Chuckarama (which usually showed Ludwig and the 1950s ATV version of Robin Hood) and Tiny Time.

Angelica Bell and Naomi Wilkinson were also among the presenters, IIRC.

Towards the end, most of the strands were axed save for Tiny Time - but I honestly think had it launched a bit further down the line, it would have stood a chance.

Now stop me if I'm being way too positive about a Carlton channel.

[James2001]

The 50s Robin Hood seems like a bizarre thing for a kids channel to have been showing, especially with it being in black & white!

If it had launched even on cable it might have stood a chance, being On Digital only at a time when it had few subscribers and coverage was so infamously poor that many people couldn't have got it even if they wanted to was a death sentence.