UK kids channel CITV to close on September 1

UK commercial broadcaster ITV’s children’s channel CITV it to close on September 1 to be replaced by digital service ITVX Kids.

The move comes as ITV builds ITVX into a forward-looking offering and the amount of broadcast TV consumed by kids continues to decline.

The closure plan was first reported by Sky News, with ITV telling the broadcaster that “as a consequence of this new streaming approach and responding to the changing way children and their parents are increasingly accessing content” the kids broadcast channel would “close after the summer holidays on 1^st September”.

The CITV digital channel launched in 2006, building on the Children’s ITV strand that had been on air on the main channel since 1983.

ITVX launched in December last year as a more comprehensive offering to replace the previous ITV Hub on-demand offering.

ITV bosses had earlier indicated that the channel would go off air this year following the launch of a dedicated kids destination on ITVX. The digital offering provides parents with the option to choose an ad-free version through a subscription to ITVX Premium.

ITV said at the time that pre-school segment LittleBe would remain a strand on the female-skewed ITVBe channel.