CITV

CITV

Ownership
Owner	ITV Digital Channels Ltd (ITV plc)

For the Canadian television channel in Edmonton, Alberta, see CITV-TV.

CITV (short for Children's ITV or Children's Independent Television) is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network (ITV1, STV and UTV).

The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00. The channel previously timeshared with ITV4 until 5 February 2008, until ITV4 expanded its broadcast hours to become a full 24 hour channel. As a consequence it moved to the Mux space on Freeview originally held by ABC1, however this move meant that viewers in Wales would no longer be able to receive CITV on Freeview. On Freeview in Wales, the off-air caption read as "CITV will no longer be available in Wales from 5 February".

The CITV channel is an extension of the original afternoon children's programming block shown on the ITV channel. "Children's ITV" began in January 1983 and originally featured pre-recorded in-vision continuity links fronted by various presenters and characters from Children's ITV programmes. The strand was broadcast live from Central Independent Television's studios in Birmingham for the first time in 1987 and started to utilise regular staff presenters. The rebranded CITV reverted to out-of-vision continuity in February 1993, voiced by Steven Ryde, who later became a producer when the strand reverted back to in-vision presentation in May 1998 and hired new presenters. In-vision continuity was phased out again in September 2004, signalling the end of CITV presentation from Birmingham after 17 years. At the start of 2007, CITV's weekday afternoon strand on the main ITV Network was axed. Since January 2007, CITV is no longer broadcast on ITV on weekdays, however the CITV brand is used at the weekend, between 06.00 and 09.25am. Currently, CITV presentation is produced by ITV Granada in Manchester, with pre-recorded continuity links voiced by Tim Dann.

History

1980s

Before being known as Children's ITV, the timeslot for children's programmes on the ITV Network was briefly branded as Watch IT!, which was presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region.

Co-ordinated by Central Independent Television, Children's ITV first went on air on 3 January 1983 and consisted of programmes with pre-recorded links in between, initially featuring a different presenter each month (usually from children's television – the cast of the Saturday morning show No. 73 presented during the summer of 1985 from a south coast beach, for example). Recorded links continued until 1987, when live in-vision presentation was introduced, echoing Children's BBC which had started two years earlier. The introduction of live continuity also saw the introduction of regular presenters for the strand – originally consisting of model Debbie Shore and Central staff announcer Gary Terzza.

In 1989, the independent production company Stonewall Productions won the contract to produce Children's ITV presentation. Whereas Central had restricted links to the station's former in-vision continuity studio, Stonewall chose to present links from various areas of Central's headquarters at Broad Street in Birmingham and utilised a team of presenters. Central won back the contract to produce the continuity links in April 1991, choosing to revert links back to a small in-vision studio and using one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd.

1990s

In February 1993, in-vision presentation was dropped by the new controller of CITV, Dawn Airey, with Steven Ryde providing out-of-vision continuity links featuring a wide variety of animated characters. Later in 1993, the Children's ITV name was changed to CITV, having been used in some form or another since the previous year.

However, the Children's wasn't removed from the logo until September 1996, the same month a Digital On-screen Graphic (DOG) was introduced. Presentation for the service was moved in 1997 when Central moved into new, smaller studios at Gas Street in Birmingham.

This continued until Tuesday 26 May 1998, when a new in-vision service was introduced by the new CITV controller, Nigel Pickard. Steven Ryde became a producer with Stephen Mulhern and Danielle Nicholls becoming the new presentation team. A new logo was introduced (with traces of the 1991-1996 and 1996-1998 predecessors), and henceforth the service had been referred to as CiTV. Initially broadcast from Studio B at Central's Gas Street studios, CITV started sharing studio space with the West Midlands edition of Central News in September 1999, allowing room for a large stylised set created by a company called Dorans Propmakers. The main studio for Central News West had previously been used for live music performances during CITV.

2000s

Post 2000 however, the overall quality of CITV's output began to drop considerably after peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, apparent budget cuts meant fewer shows were made, repeats were much more frequent, and many flagship shows were axed. It did not help that in 2001 CITV's controller Janie Grace publicly criticised Carlton and Granada, then ITV's controlling forces, for underinvestment in ITV's children's service. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Grace was removed from her post just as Nigel Pickard was named as ITV's new Director of Programmes. This decline has seemingly continued, thanks to perceived rising costs of original production (and the effects on advertising revenues following the ban by OFCOM on 'junk food' advertising within children's schedules), and increasing competition from CBBC and countless digital children's channels for new programmes (especially imported cartoons, typically from America).

On-screen, various changes to the presentation team saw no less than eight additions and replacements in the space of four years.

By September 2004, ITV plc announced the closure of its presentation and transmission facilities in Birmingham, signalling the end of CITV continuity from ITV Central. Presentation was relocated to Granada in Manchester and all in-vision continuity was replaced by pre-recorded voice overs. In 2006, ITV launched its own dedicated children's digital channel under the name 'CITV', although there were plans for the channel to be launched in 2001 (but the plans were soon scrapped).

The original launch date of the channel was set for 11 February, but this was pushed back by four weeks as a result of problems "clearing the digital rights to children's programming" and "comprehensive" re-branding. Coincidentally, 11 February was the same date as the launch of the rival CBBC Channel in 2002. Promos for the channel began on 20 February, including an online countdown clock, running to the channel's launch date.

As has become standard for Freeview channel launches, the channel was allocated an EPG number well before transmission started. Initially, a static 'coming soon' graphic was shown, followed by a preview video loop running from late February 2006 until the launch.

The channel launched on 11 March 2006 at 09:25, replacing the ITV News Channel on Freeview, Homechoice (now known as TalkTalk TV) and Telewest^†, with a brand new look for CITV. It also launched on Sky on 8 May 2006 and NTL^† on the 6 June. Additionally, the channel simulcasts CITV Breakfast (previously known as GMTV2, which was originally broadcast on ITV2, then ITV4) on weekdays between 06:00 and 09:25.

On 2 November 2009, the channel was relaunched, with a new logo and new branding in Black and Gold to match ITV1 as part of the ITV corporate look. The channel's preschool strand was given a dramatic overhaul, and given a new name - Mini CITV. Mini CITV is hosted by a group of spacemen-like beings called the Minis, who oversee presentation items on the channel. The strand's logo is similar to the first 'C' in the current CBBC logo. ^†NTL and Telewest are now both known as Virgin Media. With the exception of weekends, Mini-CITV now dominates the main stand on the CITV Channel

Ratings

The CITV channel launched with a full day average of 33,000 viewers and a 2.5% share of the child audience. This put it ahead of its major commercial rivals Cartoon Network (20,000, a 1.5% share), Boomerang (28,000 a 2.1% share) and Nickelodeon (26,000 a 2.0% share). The channel peaked at 16:30 with Bratz gaining 51,000 viewers and a 3.6% share. The channel took a 0.2% audience share in its first week compared to: CBBC 0.6, Cartoon Network 0.4, Boomerang 0.4% and CBeebies 1.4%. It's overall ratings share for March 2006 was 0.1%, by April 2006 this had risen to 0.2%, 0.3% followed in May. In August 2006, the channel became the most popular commercial kids channel between 06:00 and 18:00.

Saturday morning

Over the years CITV's flagship show has aired on Saturday mornings. The last show to do this was Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown which was an updated version of Ministry of Mayhem. As of Saturday 10 June 2006 the show was exclusive to the CITV channel before ending on Saturday 1 July 2006. This continued the recession of children's output on the main ITV network. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, practically no children's programming aired on ITV (except GMTV strands on Saturday and Sunday morning) and all other children's programming aired on the CITV channel.

In addition to this, the last of the Saturday Morning "Magazine" shows, Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, was replaced by Saturday Cooks in an attempt to compete with the BBC's own Saturday Kitchen (However, in the case of BBC, its own Saturday morning programmes now run on BBC Two). However this failed and repeats of Columbo are shown instead. The CITV channel now airs a cartoon slot from 9.25am to 11.30am every Saturday morning called Toonbase which heavily uses its airing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as the base of its promotion (despite the airing of action cartoons being decreased in recent years by both CITV and CBBC).

The most popular show of recent times was SMTV Live, with Ant & Dec and Cat Deeley.

Programming

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by CITV

Programming between 06:00 and 09:25 is controlled by ITV Breakfast (previously GMTV), who, having rebranded the vast majority of their GMTV1 and 2 children's output as CITV, now use the space to simulcast their The Fluffy Club, Toonattik and Action Stations! strands from ITV Network at weekends and CITV Breakfast on weekdays. ITV takes over at 09:25, controlling the rest of the day's programming. When it first launched, GMTV used to sell all the airtime for the channel, making it the first ITV plc-owned channel not to be sold by the in-house sales team. Airtime sales have now been taken back in-house by ITV.

also in wales there were 500 compleplits

ITV's output for the channel includes many well-established shows from the long-running afternoon slot on ITV, for example My Parents Are Aliens,Jungle Run, Art Attack, and others, as well as several new programmes produced especially for the channel, such as Horrid Henry and Bookaboo. On weekdays, the channel broadcasts mainly preschool programming in the day (except during the school holidays), and programmes for school children in the late afternoon and early evening to cater for the available audience.

The CITV channel aired the last 3 weeks of Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown exclusively on Saturday mornings before the show ended on Saturday 1 July 2006. The channel had previously simulcast the show with ITV before spin-off show Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown: Extra aired at 11:30 exclusive to the channel. The show would be replaced by the all-animation block Toon Base.

Some of the programmes that air are sourced from different networks. ITV Breakfast's morning output on the channel and the weekend block on ITV1 is largely produced by Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

On some occasions, the channel has repeated some old favourites dating as far back as the early 1990's. These have included, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Rupert, The Wombles and more recently Wolves, Witches and Giants.

Programme Blocks

Action Stations

CITV

MINI CITV

Toonattik

Weekdays (School-Term)

Year	6am-6.30am	6.30am-9.25am	9.25am-3pm	3pm-6pm	6pm-6am
2006-2009	Wakey Wakey	Action Stations	CITV		Off air

Year	6am-6.30am	6.30am-9.25am	9.25am-3pm	3pm-6pm	6pm-6am
2009–Present	The Fluffy Club	Action Stations	MINI CITV 1	CITV 2	Off air

^1 Repeats of the previous day were shown between 9.25am and 12pm
^2 The first programme is still officially Mini CITV programming although it uses the main CITV branding
^3 Breakfast programming is no longer branded as GMTV, it is now branded as CITV

Weekdays (School-Holidays)

Year	6am-6.30am	6.30am-9.25am	9.25am-6pm	6pm-6am
2006-2009	Wakey Wakey	Action Stations	CITV	Off air
2009–Present	The Fluffy Club

Weekends

Year	6am-7.15am	7.15am-7.25am	7.25am-9.25am	9.25am-6pm	6pm-6am
2006-2009	Wakey Wakey	Toonattik		CITV	Off air
2009–Present	The Fluffy Club		Toonattik

Current blocks

Toon Base

Toon Base is a block dedicated to animated programming that currently airs from 09:25 to 12noon every Saturday & Sunday morning. This replaced Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown from 2006. The block previously aired from 09.25 to 11.30, then was later changed to finish at the later time of 12:30 until changing it to the current time slot as used since 2008.

Get Stuck In!

Get Stuck In! is an hour timeslot that features a mixture of shows that encourage viewers to either make something or keep active. The slot currently runs on Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the CITV Channel from 12noon to 2pm.

Horrid Henry's Power Hour

Horrid Henry's Power Hour is an hour dedicated to back to back episodes of Horrid Henry. The block first launched in 2007, then after a break it came back in 2008 and then again at the start of 2010.

The Fluffy Club

The Fluffy Club is a pre-school slot produced by Darell McQueen Productions for Mini CITV and airs every Saturday and Sunday morning from 06:00 to 07:25 on both the CITV channel and ITV1. The slot also airs on weekdays (only on the CITV Channel) from 08:40 to 09:25am - this is changed to 06:00 to 06:45am during school holidays. It is presented by Mandisa Taylor with puppet co-presenter 'Tiny Little Fluff' (who's the main attention of the slot and featured in the show's logo). The Fluffy Club first aired as part of GMTV Kids in September 2008 and features a mixture of both British and American made programmes.

Toonattik

Toonattik features a mixture of British made and imported cartoon series that airs every Saturday and Sunday mornings from 07:25 to 09:25 on both the CITV channel and ITV. The slot launched on 5 February 2005 and originally featured in-vision links into the cartoons provided by Jamie Rickers and Anna Williamson, until they were made redundant by ITV in May 2010. Now, animated characters of their own are the brand mascots as of today.

Action Stations

Action Stations is a slot that features a selection of imported cartoon series and airs every weekday morning from 06:00-08:35 on the CITV channel. The slot first aired on 13 March 2006 on ITV2 (GMTV2) and the CITV channel, then in 2008 it was axed from ITV2 and moved to ITV4, before finally becoming exclusive to the CITV channel, as part of the CITV Breakfast slot.

Mini CITV

Mini CITV is the pre-school slot on the CITV channel that airs every weekday from 09.25 to 15:15 during school term time. This strand was launched on 2 November 2009 as part of CITV's current presenation look where it would be easier for viewers to tell apart the different age range slots during the day. It features a series of characters called the 'Mini's' who are aliens (to rival the 'yellow bugs' of CBeebies). Mini CITV does not air on weekdays during the school holidays but The Fluffy Club slot is part of the strand which airs all year round every weekend morning on both ITV and the CITV channel. Previously, the pre-school slot had been branded as simply 'CITV'.

Online Streaming

It was revealed in the CITV newsletter released on Friday 29 August 2008, that the CITV channel would be broadcasting simultaneously on the CITV website. The channel is now broadcasting online between 09:25 and 18:00, (without broadcasting the programming from ITV Breakfast between 06:00 & 09:25). This can been seen on the homepage of the website.

Presenters

Presenters and announcers on CITV over the years have included:

In-vision presenters

• Tommy Boyd (July 1983, December 1984, April 1991 – December 1992)
• Gary Terzza (July 1985 - September 1985 & September 1987 – August 1988)
• Debbie Shore (July 1985 - September 1985 & September 1987 – August 1988)
• Andi Peters (Summer 1988)
• Nicky Brown (Summer 1988)
• Mark Granger (September 1988 – March 1989)
• Jerry Foulkes (April – December 1989)
• Clive Warren (Summer mornings 1989 & 1990, Afternoons; Summer 1989 & 1990)
• Jeanne Downs (Summer mornings 1989 & 1990, Afternoons; January 1990 – March 1991)
• Scally The Dog (puppet dog) (January 1989 – March 1991)
• Glenn Kinsey (Summer mornings 1991, Afternoons December 1991 & December 1992 – February 1993)
• Stephen Mulhern (May 1998 – August 2002)

• Danielle Nicholls (May 1998 – December 2001)
• Thomas Darvill (December 1999 – December 2001)
• Andrea Green (December 1999 – October 2000)
• David Leon (September 2001 – December 2002)
• Leigh Morrison (September 2001 – December 2002)
• Leah Charles (September 2001 – December 2003)
• Michael Underwood (August 2002 – December 2003)
• Tim Dixon (January – March 2003)
• Gail McKenna (Relief January 2003, October 2003 – Staff February 2004 – March 2004)
• Andy Jaye (January 2004 – September 2004)
• Laura Jaye (January 2004 – September 2004)

Out-of-vision announcers

• Steven Ryde (February 1993 – February 1998)
• Emily Morris (March – May 1998)
• Nick Wilton

• Tim Dann (September 2004 – present)
• Taff (May – December 2006)

Guest presenters

• Matthew Kelly (January 1983, January 1984, December 1984, April 1986, September–December 1986)
• Isla St Clair (February 1983)
• Derek Griffiths (March 1983 & January 1984)
• Charlotte Coleman (as Marmalade Atkins) (April 1983)
• Mick Robertson (May 1983)
• Roland Rat (May 1983, March 1984, January 1985, February 2003)
• Bob Carolgees (June 1983 & June 1984)
• Pat Coombs (July 1983)
• Mike Reid (September 1983)
• David Rappaport (October 1983)
• Bill Oddie (November 1983)
• Ian & Janet Tough (as 'The Krankies') (December 1983)
• Christopher Biggins (April 1984)
• Stu Francis (April–May 1984 & October 1985)
• Sue Robbie (May 1984)
• Carol Lee Scott (as 'Grotbags the Witch') (July 1984, May 1986 & January 1993)
• Sandi Toksvig (as 'Ethel' from No. 73) (August 1984)
• Andrea Arnold (as 'Dawn' from No. 73) (August 1984, August 1985 & April 1987)
• Nick Staverson (as 'Harry' from No. 73) (August 1984, August 1985)
• Neil Buchanan (as 'Neil from No. 73) (August 1984)

• Rod Hull & Emu (September 1984 & December 1985)
• Terrahawks voice cast (October 1984)
• Bonnie Langford (November 1984)
• Cheryl Baker (February 1985)
• 'Travelling Matt' (from Fraggle Rock, performed by Dave Goelz) (March 1985)
• Ken Jones (as Whistle Willie from Behind the Bike Sheds (April 1985)
• Gudrun Ure (as Supergran) (May 1985)
• Timmy Mallett (June 1985)
• Martin P Daniels (July 1985)
• Jimmy Cricket (September 1985)
• Gary Wilmot (November 1985)
• Bernie Winters (January 1986)
• Nino Feretto (February 1986)
• David Jensen (March 1986)
• James Baker (June 1986 & April–June 1987)
• Basil Brush (July 1986)
• Elizabeth Estensen & John Hasler (as T-Bag & T-Shirt) (August 1986)
• Gareth Jones (January–April 1987)

Relief presenters

• Bryn Musselwhite (November 1998)
• Liana Bridges (November 1998)
• Vanessa Bewley (November/December 1998, January 1999 & June 1999)
• Fearne Cotton (December 1998 & December 2000)

• Ben Jones (February 1999 & June 1999)
• Kate McIntyre (July 2003)
• Anna Williamson (August/September 2003)

External links

• CITV at itv.com