Children's channel CITV to close next month after 40 years and creating classics Rainbow and Danger Mouse

20 August 2023, 17:05

CITV, formerly Children's ITV, will close after the summer holidays after 30 years of broadcasting kids' classics such as Rainbow and Danger Mouse.

The channel which was aimed at children between five and 12 will close its broadcast operation to be replaced by a new ITVX Kids streaming service.

The channel launched in 1983 and has been an ITV staple since then on weekday afternoons.

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Well-loved shows that the channel has seen over the years include My Parents Are Aliens, Fraggle Rock, The Worst Witch, Children's Ward, Raggy Dolls, Woof, Art Attack, and Horrid Henry.

ITV told Sky News: "As a consequence of this new streaming approach and responding to the changing ways children and their parents are increasingly accessing content, the CITV broadcast channel will close after the summer holidays on 1st September."

Some Twitter users were less than happy with the changes, with one writing: "What about those who can't access the Internet? Like the less fortunate? Have you even considered this?"

Another wondered: "Why are you closing citv, I love citv. Can citv has a second chance?"

With others taking note of the cost of access for ITVX and saying: "Just noticed that ITVX viewers will have to pay £5.99 monthly to watch this Channel... no thanks....."

In a press release in March, ITV announced: ITV today announces the launch of a new dedicated destination for kids on ITVX - ITVX Kids - with more content than ever before, across a range of titles appealing to both school-age and pre-school age children."

The BBC's dedicated children's channel CBBC is also due to be scrapped in favour of an online alternative in the near future.

Recent BARB viewing data has shown that the number of hours of linear TV watched by 4-year-olds has dramatically declined by 62% since 2019.

Despite this, viewing across the board has risen by 30% in the same period, showing a strong trend towards a preference for streaming.