CBBC (TV channel)



CBBC (Short for Children's BBC) is a British free-to-air children's television channel operated by the BBC. Launching in 11 February 2002 as a spin-off from the BBC's children's strand of the same name, CBBC broadcasts for fourteen hours per-day from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Freeview, cable, IPTV and digital satellite. CBBC is primarily aimed at viewers 6 to 12 years old; a sister channel known as CBeebies serves a younger audiences. CBBC was named Channel of the Year at the Children's BAFTA awards in November 2008 and 2015. The channel averages 300,000 viewers daily.

The channel originally shared bandwidth on the digital terrestrial television platform with BBC Knowledge, and later BBC Three, necessitating that CBBC sign off at 7:00 p.m. daily. Beginning on 11 April 2016, following the closure of the linear BBC Three television service, CBBC extended its broadcast day by two hours.

On 22 August 2008, the BBC announced that the channel would be available live on its website from 16 September. CBBC's reach further expanded with the addition of the channel on the Sky line-up in the Republic of Ireland on 12 May 2011. Since 27 March 2013, CBBC has been carried by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), sharing a channel with BBC Two.

Management
Along with CBBC, the CBBC channel is operated by the BBC Children's department within the BBC and is part of the BBC North group. BBC Children's was originally based in the East Tower of BBC Television Centre since the department's inception, but moved to MediaCityUK in Salford in September 2011, and the live presentation links used throughout the day are now recorded and broadcast from there. The channel is answerable to the CBBC Channel controller Damian Kavanagh, in post since 2009, and to the director of BBC Children's Joe Godwin, appointed in 2009 and in charge of the whole direction of the channel and its strand counterpart.

Programming
The CBBC channel's programming output is very similar to the strand shown on BBC One. The channel often complements this strand with programmes shown earlier than on the terrestrial channels, repeats or whole series shown in a day, alongside other exclusive commissions.

Most viewed programmes
The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on CBBC, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB.

Class TV
As part of the channel's original remit, the channel originally needed to show 100 hours a year of factual and schools programmes. The service managed this by introducing the Class TV strand to the channel, which would air educational programming for approximately two hours each day in the late morning, with normal programming resuming in the early afternoon. Much of this programming was old BBC Schools programming shown, in some cases, decades before and which was for the most part still relevant. Very little new schools programmes were commissioned.

Presentation
The CBBC channel has had relatively similar presentation to that of its strand counterpart. The logo has consistently remained the same as the service; green coloured blobs at the beginning of its life and the current green and white logo since September 2007. The channel has mainly utilised presenters from the main service, with a few presenters appearing mostly on the new channel; Gemma Hunt and Anne Foy being notable examples and appearing consistently until August 2007. At the beginning of September 2007, along with the relaunch, the same presenters of the CBBC channel would also feature on the CBBC on BBC One and Two.

When the channel launched, presentation was located in TC2 at BBC Television Centre, where the channel shared studio facilities with the channel's original magazine show Xchange. This changed in Autumn 2004, when the channel moved to TC9 following the normal CBBC links move to TC10; however this was changed in March 2006 so that all CBBC and CBBC channel links were located in TC9. A further change was to take place on 4 December 2006 when all output moved to a Chroma key set within TC12, and was presented by only one presenter. This short live decision lasted until the 2007 relaunch, which involved a new 'office' set being constructed, initially in TC12 and then in a new studio facility in the East Tower of Television Centre.

In 2011, the CBBC Channel moved to MediaCityUK, and has been presented from there since 5 September. The Office has been through a number of revamps since then, 2 in 2015, the first one being a minor change because of the Go CBBC app, and another one in May which entirely changed some of the structure, adding a post chute and a Up Next screen, and 1 so far in 2016, due to the channel's new look, gaining a smaller desk, an extra Up Next screen, and renaming it 'CBBC HQ'.

CBBC HD


On 16 July 2013, the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of CBBC would be launched by early 2014. The channel launched on 10 December 2013. The channel broadcasts on the BBC's existing HD multiplex on Freeview and shares its stream with BBC Three HD as they air at different times.

Prior to launch, the majority of CBBC's HD output was broadcast on BBC HD before its closure on 26 March 2013. The HD channel was not added to the Sky EPG in the Republic of Ireland.

From 16 July to 5 August 2014, CBBC HD was temporarily removed from Freeview during the 2014 Commonwealth Games to let BBC Three (and BBC Three HD) broadcast 24 hours a day, similar to how BBC Parliament was removed during the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

CBBC Extra
As from 2013, CBBC Extra is now also accessed by the CBBC website.

CBBC Extra is a free interactive television service from CBBC provided by the BBC Red Button. It is accessible from the CBBC channel by pressing red and then selecting CBBC Extra from the main menu. It can also be accessed from any other BBC channel by pressing red and going to page number 570. The service differs across digital platforms, for example Sky viewers can access a video loop. Its availability on Freeview is dependent upon BBC Red Button not showing other interactive services, such as major sports events coverage. The service offers numerous features including Newsround, Horoscopes, Chris/Dodge's Blog, viewer content and jokes and other interactive elements.

CBBC Online
The CBBC website provides a wide range of activities for viewers aged 6–15, such as games, videos, puzzles, printable pages, pre-moderated message boards and frequently updated news feeds. It contains pages for the majority of its current programming with various content on each. There are also micro-sites from Newsround and Sportsround, providing children with news and sport, as well as the CBBC iPlayer to replay CBBC programmes for up to thirty days.