CBBC 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 for children aged 6–12. Its sister channel, CBeebies, is aimed at younger children aged 6 and under. It broadcasts every day from 7am to 7pm, timesharing with BBC Three.
History
Launched on 11 February 2002 alongside its sister channel, CBeebies, the name was previously used to brand all content on BBC One and BBC Two aimed at children. CBBC was named the Channel of the Year at the Children's BAFTA awards in 2008, 2012, and 2015. The channel averages 300,000 views per day.
The channel originally shared bandwidth with BBC Choice, and later BBC Three, meaning that CBBC needed to sign off every night at 7 pm. On 22 August 2008, it was 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 Sky in Ireland on 12 May 2011. The British Forces Broadcasting Service have provided viewers with CBBC and CBeebies since 1 April 2013, when they replaced BFBS Kids.
In 2016, CBBC's broadcast hours were extended by two hours to 9 pm due to the discontinuation of BBC Three as a linear channel. It was stated that the additional hours would be used to provide programming for teenagers.
On 2 March 2021, ahead of the relaunch of BBC Three as a broadcast channel, it was announced that CBBC's broadcast hours would be reduced by two hours back to 7 pm, as was the case prior to the 2016 relaunch. On 15 March 2023, CBBC rebranded its on-screen bug and identity to match the BBC's 2021 logo, dropping the 2016 logo which had been used for seven years.
Closure of the channel
On 26 May 2022, the BBC announced plans for CBBC and BBC Four to be discontinued as a linear television service in 2025 as part of cutbacks and other changes focusing on creating a "digital-first" BBC. Under the plan, CBBC would exclusively operate as a content hub on iPlayer, as BBC Three had done before it was relaunched in 2022.
Management
Along with CBeebies, CBBC is operated by the BBC Children's and Education department. 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.
Programming
CBBC's programming output is very similar to the strand previously shown on BBC One. CBBC 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.
Educational programming
As part of CBBC's original remit, CBBC needed to show 1,000 hours of factual and schools programmes per year. The service managed this by introducing Class TV, which would air educational programming for 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. Class TV ended in March 2008, following a change to CBBC's remit. However, in December 2019, CBBC brought back Class TV with 'Live Lessons' presented by the CBBC presenting team on late weekday mornings.
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools around the country, CBBC broadcast educational programming for primary school children. This included a mixture of programmes which were new or they aired on CBBC many years before, with a focus on learning as well as newly recorded content. It was hoped that this might help children without the financial means to participate in lessons over the internet.