CBeebies


CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six years and under. Its sister channel, CBBC, is intended for older children aged six to twelve. It broadcasts every day from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, timesharing with BBC Four.

History

On 20 November 2001, the CBeebies name was officially revealed as part of the split of the already-existing CBBC block and would be used as both a children's block and a digital channel.
The CBeebies channel launched on 11 February 2002 alongside the CBBC channel, as a spinoff from the BBC's children's television strand. The first four shows to air on the channel were Teletubbies, Binka, Step Inside and Bits and Bobs. CBeebies domestically broadcasts from 5:30 am to 7:00 pm, broadcasting six days per week. From the launch of the channel until 1 March 2002, CBeebies timeshared with fellow BBC channel BBC Knowledge but since 2 March 2002, it now timeshares with BBC Four, which is on air after CBeebies closes for the night at 7:00 pm.
CBeebies was joined in 19 March 2007 by its own radio station, aptly named CBeebies Radio, which broadcast for three hours each day on BBC Radio 7 until April 2011. CBeebies Radio, however, has continued as a feature on CBeebies' website since 2013, and as a station on BBC Sounds broadcasting from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. A CBeebies Weekly magazine, now named just CBeebies Magazine, was first published in 2006.
Since March 2013, CBeebies has been carried by the British Forces Broadcasting Service. CBeebies is also available in Ireland.
In September 2018 as part of a branding strategy, BBC Alba's unbranded two-hour children's block was split into CBeebies Alba and CBBC Alba, with the former airing during the first hour and the latter airing during the second hour. This block features its own presentation, presenters and shows in Scottish Gaelic. The only presenter shared between the CBeebies Alba block and CBeebies channel is Dodge T. Dog, who appears on an occasional basis.
On 15 March 2023, CBeebies rebranded its channel identity, in line with a wider corporate rebranding across the BBC starting in 2021. This was CBeebies' first rebrand, retiring the logo that the channel had used since its launch 21 years earlier. The new style featured a new logo in line with the BBC's 2021 logo, as well as a revamped appearance of the "Bugbie" characters that had been part of the channel's identity since launch.

International and non-English versions

owns and operates the international CBeebies feeds, with most of them operating on a 24-hour schedule.
The first international launch for the CBeebies channel was in India in May 2007, although the channel was shut down at the end of November 2012 owing to "commercial considerations". The Polish CBeebies channel was launched on 2 December 2007, while feeds in Latin America, East, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia were launched in late 2008. In March 2011, an on demand version of the network was launched in the United States and is available on Xfinity.
On 3 January 2011, CBeebies was launched in the Philippines on SkyCable.
On 13 May 2011, CBeebies was launched as a programme block on the channel BBC Kids in Canada, available on weekdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. It served a similar schedule to the main channel. The block ceased alongside its main channel on 31 December 2018, with some programmes moving to Knowledge Kids.
In April 2015, BBC Worldwide signed with South Korean broadcaster KBS and Japanese broadcaster Kids Station to launch CBeebies blocks on both channels.
In April 2016, a channel for the MENA region was launched.
On 10 March 2017, CBeebies Asia was launched in Taiwan, replacing BBC Entertainment. CBeebies Asia has already launched in Hong Kong, South Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Maldives, Macau, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. On 13 April 2017, the localised CBeebies feed for Latin America ceased operations along with BBC Earth and BBC Entertainment.
On 5 April 2018, a feed was launched on Digiturk in Turkey.
On 1 April 2019, CBeebies was removed by SkyCable in the Philippines.
On 1 December 2019, the Australian feed launched in New Zealand on Sky.
In March 2020, CBeebies launched on Vietnam's television provider Msky.
In July 2020, it was relaunched in India, but with pan-Asian feed in English audio track only.
On 31 October 2020, CBeebies and CBeebies en Español were removed from all cable and satellite providers in the United States.
On 11 January 2022, BBC Kids launched as a FAST channel on Pluto TV in the United States, which airs select CBeebies and CBBC shows from the BBC Studios catalogue. A version of the channel that airs Spanish-dubbed programming titled "Niños por BBC" was launched on the same day. Both channels have since been removed. BBC Kids continues to be available on Samsung TV Plus in the United States.
On 15 December 2022, the Asian feed of CBeebies was launched as a preview channel on Astro, which replaced Boomerang on 1 February 2023.
A planned rebrand for the Polish version of CBeebies was cancelled in March 2024 after the departure of presenter Aneta Piotrowska.
It was announced that CBeebies on Foxtel in Australia would be removed on 31 July 2024, alongside BBC First, BBC Earth, BBC News, and A&E. However, 3 months after the Foxtel shutdown, CBeebies and BBC Kids were removed from Fetch TV on 31 October 2024, marking the end of CBeebies operations in Australia after nearly 16 years.

Management

In the UK, CBeebies is operated by the BBC Children's and Education division and part of BBC North. The division is also responsible for CBBC and overall strategic responsibility for all of the BBC's domestic services for children rests with the Director of Children's and Education, Patricia Hildago Reina. The direction of the domestic CBeebies channel itself rested with Kay Benbow, the last Controller of the channel commissioning all CBeebies content across BBC television, online, interactive TV and radio. She took over from the first controller Michael Carrington in 2010. In 2017 it was announced that the CBeebies controller post would close in December 2017 and all content for the CBeebies brand would be commissioned by a new, pan BBC Children's role entitled Head of Content. In January 2021 it was announced that the decision would be reversed, and a new Head of Commissioning and Acquisitions for preschoolers would be appointed.
Internationally, CBeebies is owned by BBC Studios, which operate the brand.

Presentation

The links between programmes on CBeebies are primarily achieved through the use of in-vision continuity, using presenters to interact with the children. In the UK, links are recorded rather than broadcast live, as is the case on sister channel CBBC. They were originally recorded from studio TC0 at BBC Television Centre in London, but moved out in 2008 to Teddington Studios, and returned briefly in 2010. From September 2011 onwards, the links have been based at the BBC's northern base at studios HQ5 and HQ6 in Dock10 studios at MediaCityUK following the move of the BBC Children's department there.
As is with the rest of the BBC's channels, there is a lack of advertisements and programmes are occasionally broken up by trailers for new shows, new seasons of said shows or events.

Logo and identities

CBeebies uses many identities throughout the day during the breaks in between shows. Most of these idents feature the mascots, named the Bugs, also known as the Bugbies. The Bugbies are yellow blobs with faces, and are similar to the ones used by CBBC between 2002 and 2005, with the only difference being the colour: green for CBBC and yellow for CBeebies with both using purple as a similarity. Most idents before the late 2010s feature children saying the channel name twice once the logo appears except the Bedtime idents. The idents have used a moving blobby, slimy-like background or rounded shapes in any colour. Each block has its own ident, and the Bedtime Hour has a few different idents. In 2016, new idents were made for each block, replacing the old ones and the slimy moving background idents were rarely shown. Idents featuring the CBeebies House with it changing to effect the current season have been used from 2016 to 2023.
On 15 March 2023, CBeebies underwent a rebranding by Blue Zoo to fully-adopt the BBC's new corporate branding, with the Bugs reimagined in a rounded square-shaped form to evoke the BBC logo, and a new suite of idents and animated scenes incorporating two- and three-dimensional elements.

Programming

Presenters

Live presenters have been on CBeebies since the channel's launch. They are used to fill the gaps between the shows that air on the channel, speaking directly to the child, doing certain activities such as arts and crafts, leading activities based on a topic from the website, showing viewers' birthday cards, and introducing the shows, well as hosting some of the shows. Many of the presenters have histories as characters in other services or on children's programmes.

International Presenters

The international variants feature different personalities per broadcast region.
  • The Australian feed is the only non-UK service to feature more than one presenter, as this feed features three presenters. Tara Colegrave has presented since the channel's launch in 2008 and when the continuity links moved from the UK to Australia, she was joined by Robbie Harding and Duncan Fellows in 2011.
  • The Asian feed shown in countries like Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore has Nisha Anil as the main presenter.
  • The now-defunct Latin American feed variant had Roser Cabañas as the presenter.
  • The Polish channel had Aneta Piotrowska as main presenter from its launch in 2008 until 2024. On some occasions between November 2014 to 2016 Aneta appeared on the UK channel.
  • The South African feed uses former UK presenter Sidney Sloane. Cat Sandion also presented on this feed before becoming a presenter on the UK version.
  • The CBeebies Alba block on BBC Alba uses Bard Cornark, Ben Cajee and Carrie Macneil as the presenters.
  • The Turkish feed uses the UK presenters dubbed over with Turkish voice actors.