CITV
CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged 6–12. It replaced the earlier Watch It! branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio up until 1987, when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios. In 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw the demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, the operations moved to ITV Granada's MediaCityUK studios in Salford.
In 2006, CITV launched as a digital channel on Freeview. The channel primarily ran repeated ITV content and acquisitions daily from 6:00am to 9:00pm. Following the axing of its original afternoon slot in late 2006, a CITV programming block on the ITV network continued to air on weekend mornings from 6:00 am to 9:25 am as part of the ITV Breakfast time slot. CITV did not have a +1 simulcast, unlike the rest of ITV's portfolio of channels. Additionally, the channel was only simulcast in HD on Sky online and Sky Glass.
On 22 July 2023, ITV launched a new children's hub on the ITVX streaming service, ITVX Kids, previously announced to be an eventual replacement for the CITV channel. At 9:00pm on 1 September 2023, the channel ceased broadcasting, with a promotional loop informing viewers of the move to ITVX. At around 9:02pm, the ITVX loop started airing with a screenbug.
On 2 September 2023, the children's block was moved to feature every morning on ITV2 during breakfast time, from 05:00am to 09:00am. However, it was later shortened to 6:00am to 09:00am. Shows broadcast are sourced from the ITVX Kids streaming service. This strand has retained usage of the pre-existing CITV branding, following the channel's closure.
On 1 October 2023, the CITV channel's 602 Freesat slot was removed, exactly one month after the closure.
History
Watch It! and Children's ITV: Early years (1980–1989)
Before being known as Children's ITV, the timeslot for children's programmes on the ITV network was briefly branded as Watch It!, which started on 29 December 1980, and was presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region.The notion of networking children's continuity was first suggested within ITV as far back as the early 1970s, but with fierce regional identities prevalent – including scheduling, presentation, and programming – the idea stalled until the late 1970s, when the IBA began to express concern that most ITV shows for children were not consistent or fully networked. On Thursdays, the ITV regions were able to broadcast whatever programmes they wished; many non-children's programmes appeared, such as Looney Tunes and Little House on the Prairie. In December 1980, ITV announced its first concerted effort at a more coherent approach to children's output, with the introduction of the new Watch It! block each weekday from 4:15pm to 5:15pm, after the IBA continued to emphasize issues.
Watch It! was conceived by the promotions department at ATV, with the implementation of the branding differing from region to region, thus it was always transmitted locally and never provided on a network feed. ATV provided different animations each season, to freshen up what was available to each company. Most regions would use their own station announcers during Watch It! airtime.
Shortly after the start of new franchises in 1982, some ITV stations raised concerns that Watch It! had not gone far enough to address previous concerns. Central's Controller of Children's Programmes, Lewis Rudd, suggested a different approach to the presentation method. As a result, the Central Promotions Department came up with the initial concept for Children's ITV. The new look was devised, and links between programmes were pre-recorded using presenters drawn from the constituent programmes. The networking arrangements were similar to those already in place for the transmission of schools programmes – the links were played out from Central and the component programmes came from the supplying companies.
Children's ITV went to air on Monday 3 January 1983, between 4 and 5:15pm every weekday afternoon, the extra 15 minutes being filled by a repeat of one of the preschool programmes shown at lunchtime the same day. Initially featuring a different presenter each month, the links were pre-recorded in advance in a small studio at a London facility called Molinare, using a single locked-off camera. The first set design was a rocket ship and was used for the first few months. The concept was eventually retired, and the set and style of presentation used began to reflect the presenter doing the presenting that month or the programme that they starred in.
By 1985, the links were still being recorded, but using a common, stylized set known as "Network Control", which allowed the presenter to be joined by guests in the studio for interviews. The exterior of this fictitious location also featured in the animations and stings. Technical considerations often left the system flawed. With each programme coming from a different playout source and each link being pre-recorded, things often went wrong on air: programmes would be rolled early and the links would be cut short. Programmes would also fail to appear and the presenter would be left on screen. Because each link was recorded for the slot available, the presenter would hold the final pose for a few moments so that the transmission controller at Central had something to leave on screen just in case. Pre-recording the links also meant that late schedule changes could not be easily referenced.
In September 1985, the BBC revamped their own children's presentation with the introduction of Children's BBC. Using the BBC1 announcer booth at BBC Television Centre, later dubbed "The Broom Cupboard", Phillip Schofield provided links between the programmes. This format of a small self-op continuity studio using one single presenter continued in largely the same format until 1993, but was broadcast live and allowed for a looser, more relaxed style of presentation than the rival Children's ITV service.
Children's ITV went live in early June 1987. Using the small presentation studio at their Broad Street studios – which had become available since in-vision continuity for the Central region was dropped – former Central announcers Gary Terzza and Debbie Shore presented live links from a set built to look like a transmitting station. Although the studio space was small, the designers' use of a plate glass mirror gave the effect of a much larger set. The new live format gave brought a great deal of flexibility; timings could be altered, schedule changes reflected, and breakdowns dealt with in a continuous manner. In 1988, the format was refreshed again with a new single presenter, Mark Granger, replacing Terzza and Shore, in a smaller, more basic studio set which included in-vision monitors showing the VT clock of the next scheduled item.
Stonewall Productions era (1989–1991)
On 3 April 1989, the independent production company Stonewall Productions won the contract to produce and revamp the Children's ITV presentation. Stonewall Productions was headed up by Michael Jackson, a Central staffer who used his expertise to put a successful application together.Whereas Central had restricted links to the station's former in-vision presentation studio, Stonewall chose not to use a fixed set, but instead presented links from various areas of Central's headquarters at Broad Street in Birmingham, utilising a rotating team of presenters consisting of Clive Warren, Jeanne Downs, Jerry Foulkes, and large puppet Scally the Dog.
Central regains control (1991–2001)
Central won back the contract to produce the continuity links from 9 April 1991, choosing to revert to a small in-vision studio using only one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd, and use their own new branding package. During the 1991–1993 era, greater relevance was being placed throughout television on promotional trailers as a way of effectively detailing areas of the schedule to viewers who might not know about them; consequently, the 1993 invitation to tender for the provision of the Children's ITV service specified a minimum number of high quality trailers that the successful applicant were required to create over the term of the contract. Containing a sizeable promotions department - and a credible reputation for presentation within the ITV network - the contract remained with Central.The Broadcasting Act 1990 and subsequent 1991 ITV franchise auctions also brought about numerous changes to the output and structure of ITV's children's output. Both saw several regions end in-house production of its programming in favour of commissioning independents, such as Tetra Films, which housed children's personnel from Thames. Alongside this, the network's subcommittee on children's productions across its regions was superseded in favour of one controller of children's and daytime programming at the newly established ITV Network Centre, a role first taken up by Dawn Airey. Soon after assuming control of Children's ITV, Airey dropped its in-vision presentation - beginning from 15 February 1993, Steve Ryde instead provided live out-of-vision continuity links featuring a variety of animated characters and settings. Ryde additionally had creative input into on-screen promotions devised alongside producer-director Tony Jopia, and occasionally appeared on-screen. On 6 September 1993, the strand was extended to start at 3:30pm, a move made possible by shifting ITV's lunchtime pre-school programming broadcasts at 12:10pm to mid-afternoon. Around the same time, Children's ITV began to be informally referred to as CITV. However, the "Children's" was not removed from the logo until Monday 2 September 1996, accompanying the introduction of a digital on-screen graphic.
Presentation for the service was relocated in 1997 when Central moved into newer, smaller studios at Gas Street Studios in Birmingham. A heavily revamped live in-vision service and logo were introduced on Tuesday 26 May 1998 by the new controller of CITV output, Nigel Pickard, who had replaced Airey's successor Vanessa Chapman in January.
With the refresh and his subsequent commissioning of the highly-popular SMTV Live, Pickard sought to reinvigorate the strand with more live entertainment content for an older pre-teen and teenage audience, such as The Top 10 of Everything and Mad for It, an area of the service which had been given less prominence for some time due to ITV allocating its spend on other means such as Formula One coverage. As a result of the shift towards older audiences, preschool programming was also revamped, with numerous preschool shows such as Tots TV, Wizadora, The Riddlers, Potamus Park, The Blobs and The Caribou Kitchen, which aired weekly, decommissioned as part of the revamp airing their final episodes between late 1997 and August 1998, in favour of newer programmes designed to be stripped daily in the style of the BBC's daily preschool programmes, such as Dream Street, Maisy and Mopatop's Shop.
Steve Ryde became producer behind the scenes, and selected Stephen Mulhern and Danielle Nicholls as the new in-vision presentation team out of over 900 auditions. CITV was initially broadcast live daily on weekdays from a small studio at Gas Street Studios during this period; a new Sunday morning strand was also introduced prior to the May revamp, with live in-vision presentation launching for it later that year in September - outside broadcasts additionally occurred on occasion.
By then coming fully under Carlton Television's branding, Central retained the contact to produce CITV for a further two years in 1999, successfully seeing off two rival bids from other ITV companies. Presentation was refreshed several times by their in-house promotions team, with one of the service's longest-lasting visual identities launching on 11 September 1999. Under the design and direction of Carlton's Dave Hickman and Amanda Robinson, 3D animation firm Aldis Animation produced many of the strand's short computer-generated idents and break bumpers. CITV's online presence was additionally expanded, with its first fully-fledged standalone website launched by ITV and web design agency Workhouse on 25 October 1999. Shortly afterwards, in-vision presentation started sharing studio space with the West Midlands edition of Central News. This allowed more room for a larger, specially stylised set, created by prop manufacturers Dorans Propmakers.
Despite indicating he had more work to do in interviews, Pickard left his role at CITV in June 2000 for the BBC, where he would go on to launch the CBBC and CBeebies channels. Prior to leaving ITV, Pickard had begun floating the idea of a separate CITV digital channel to open in 2001. CITV strands had already been broadcast for a short period on the then-new ITV2.