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ITV to close its children's channel and shift most content online
The Guardian
|March 11, 2023
ITV is shutting down its CITV channel and shifting most of its children's programmes to streaming-only, arguing that young people have largely given up on watching scheduled television.
CITV will disappear as a standalone channel in the autumn, with all children's content shifting to the streaming platform ITVX. The broadcaster said the channel was unprofitable and children's TV audiences had collapsed in recent years because of a shift to YouTube and other streaming services.
ITV said the average time spent by British children watching children's television channels had declined by 62% since 2019. The BBC has already announced plans to make its CBBC channel online-only, although the preschool CBeebies retains its slot.
Greg Childs, of the Children's Media Foundation, said ITV's failure to invest in younger viewers had hindered early brand loyalty.
This story is from the March 11, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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