CITV axed: ITV to move children’s channel to streaming service ITVX - how to find it

ITV has announced that it will be closing down its dedicated children’s channel CITV this year.

The channel was launched in 2006 after the success of the Children’s ITV programming block, which launched on ITV in 1983 aimed at kids aged between five and 13. The closure is set to take place in the autumn, the broadcaster has said.

CITV will shut following the launch of a new “dedicated destination for kids” on ITVX, it was announced on Friday (10 March). The streaming service replaced ITV Hub in December last year as the online home of all ITV content as the broadcaster attempts to compete with streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon.

Despite the closure of CITV, ITV has said it plans to maintain the LittleBe preschool segment on ITVBe and will also offer some early morning children’s content on ITV2 from September.

ITVX Kids will be home to both new launches and highly-recognisable children’s programmes, including the animated series of Mr Bean, Teletubbies Let’s Go!, Sooty and Bob The Builder. Here is all you need to know:

When will CITV shut down?

An exact date for the closure of the children’s channel has not been confirmed by the broadcaster. However ITVX Kids is due to launch in July of this year.

It will be rolled out during the UK school summer holiday period with a range of titles aimed at both school-age and pre-school-age children. CITV will then be shut down in the following weeks.

What to expect from ITVX Kids?

The ITVX Kids homepage will be accessible within a child-safe ITVX Kids profile and offer more than 1,000 hours of programming, according to ITV. The broadcaster has also said accessibility for young viewers is “a big priority”.

ITV said the “ambition” is for all ITVX Kids content to be subtitled, with 20% of the content offering audio description. The new offering will also include British Sign Language original programming such as Mission Employable and Dare Master.

On the new plans, managing editor of ITVX, Craig Morris said: “We’re really excited to launch this dedicated destination for kids on ITVX, which will be home to a wealth of content including new series, recognisable brands and existing favourites for a range of ages, all in one child-safe area, with editorial curation to guide viewing.

“The wealth of content will be available to stream for free, with the option for parents to choose ad free viewing, through a subscription to ITVX Premium.”

It will include highly-recognisable children’s favourites including Teletubies, Sooty and Bob the Builder, the broadcaster has said. New programmes are expected to be added to the service monthly from July, with content spanning comedy, game shows, live action, animation and sport and “sourced from a broad spectrum of distributors, from small independents as well as regional UK suppliers”.

ITVX is an online streaming service, it is available on computers and laptops as well as on mobile devices. The App is available for download on Google Play and Apple’s App Store and is also available on TVs.