CITV

Before being known as Children's ITV, the timeslot for children's programmes on the ITV Network was briefly branded as Watch It!. The Watch It! brand started on 29 December 1980[3] 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. In December 1980, ITV announced its first concerted effort at a more coherent approach to children's output, with the introduction of Watch It! each weekday from 4.15 PM to 5.15 PM, after the IBA continued to emphasized issues.[4]

Watch It! was conceived by the promotions department at ATV, with the implementation of the branding differed from region to region, thus it was always transmitted locally and never provided on a network basis. ATV provide different animations each season, to freshen up what was available to each company. Most regions, including Southern/TVS and Granada, 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.[5] 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.[6]

Children's ITV went to air on Monday 3 January 1983,[7] between 4 PM and 5.15 PM each weekday afternoon, the extra fifteen minutes being filled by a repeat of one of the pre-school programmes shown at lunchtime the same day. Initially featuring a different presenter each month (usually from children's television), 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 he/she starred in (i.e. Pat Coombs as "The Dressmaker" from Yorkshire Television's Ragdolly Anna in a room of antiques in April 1984).

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 (usually from that of the originating ITV company, i.e. if the first programme was Rainbow, which came from Thames TV, the staff there would have to run the tape while the presenter was talking and wouldn't show Thames TV's skyline ident before the programme's titles) and each link being pre-recorded (played out by Central), 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 (and an occasional puppet) 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 ITV service.[8]

Children's ITV went live two years later. 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.

From 3 April 1989, the independent production company Stonewall Productions won the contract to produce Children's ITV presentation. Stonewall Productions was headed up by Michael Jackson, a Central staffer who used his expertise to prepare a suitable application.

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 which included Clive Warren (now a DJ), Jeanne Downs (a singer), Jerry Foulkes (a producer who left Children's ITV on 22 December 1989) and a large puppet dog called Scally (who started out with Mark during his last few months).[6]

CITV logo (26 May 1998 – 7 September 2003)

Central won back the contract to produce the continuity links from 9 April 1991, choosing to revert links back to a small in-vision studio and using one regular presenter, Tommy Boyd. During the 1991–1993 era, greater importance was being placed throughout television on promotions (trailers) as a way of effectively detailing areas of the schedule to viewers who might not know about them. 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 must produce over the term of the contract. With a large promotions department - and a strong, highly credible reputation for presentation within the ITV network - the contract remained with Central.

On 15 February 1993, in-vision presentation was dropped by the first Network Centre controller of children's & daytime programming Dawn Airey (a former Central management trainee) with Steven Ryde providing live out-of-vision continuity links featuring a wide variety of animated characters. On 6 September 1993, CITV was extended to start at 3.30 PM, when ITV network centre decided to move the pre-school children slot from 12.10 PM, to be branded under the CITV in the afternoon slot. Around the same time, the Children's ITV name was changed to CITV, having been used in some form or another since the previous year. However, the Children's was not removed from the logo until Monday 2 September 1996, the same month a digital on-screen graphic (DOG) was introduced.

Presentation for the service was moved in 1997 when Central moved into new, smaller studios at Gas Street Studios in Birmingham, which continued until Friday 22 May 1998. A new in-vision service was introduced on Tuesday 26 May 1998 by the new controller of ITV children's output, Nigel Pickard. Steven Ryde became a producer with Stephen Mulhern and Danielle Nicholls becoming the new presentation team. A new logo was introduced, designed by Aaron Camm (with traces predecessors), and henceforth the service was referred to as CiTV, until the 2006 rebrand, initially being broadcast from Studio B at Central's Gas Street Studios.

Central retained the contact to produce CITV for a further two years, seeing off two rival bids from other ITV companies.[9] Shortly after launch, CITV started sharing studio space with the West Midlands edition of Central News in September 1999, allowing room for a large stylised set created by a company called Dorans Propmakers. The main studio for Central News West had previously been used for live music performances during CITV.

CITV logo (8 September 2003 - 10 March 2006)

First CITV channel logo (11 March 2006 – 1 November 2009)

During 2001, CITV's budget was cut by 17% due to the advertising recession, leading to CITV's controller Janie Grace publicly criticising Carlton and Granada Television, then the main controlling forces in the network, for underinvestment in ITV's children's service.[10] Grace went even further and complained to the regulator ITC, claiming CITV was unlikely to fulfil its range of programming commitments in the following year. Grace also sought support from the ITC for the creation of a separate CITV Ltd company which would allow more children's output to be made in-house - a proposal which ultimately fell apart due to the need for a change in the law and support from the Office of Fair Trading. A new strand was introduced from 3:25 PM every afternoon and was put in place under the name "CiTV's Telly Tots". The in-house presentation was dropped between 3:25 and 4:00 PM and replaced with a CGI animated town using a plane, car and a post box as mascots. A child voiceover was used to introduce its pre-school shows. Books and video tapes were introduced to tie-in with the new strand.[11] Further cuts took place again during 2002 which brought the total cutback to 25% of the overall budget (£30 million less).[12]

Despite the cutbacks, the ITC noted that CITV had a "sustained an impressive schedule", gave "factual material a fresh look" and "continued to produce good dramas"[13] Just after CITV celebrated its 20th birthday in January 2003, Janie Grace resigned from the post, just before Nigel Pickard was named as ITV's new Director of Programmes.[14][15] Pickard pledged to produce 80 more hours of children's programming in 2003, against a target of 520 hours in 2002 and extend the range of programmes to include more factual and topical programmes and more mixed entertainment and drama,[16] Once again, concerns about CITV and its structure where highlighted by Angus Fletcher, president of Jim Henson Television Europe, and Anne Wood, founder of Ragdoll Productions, as it could only earn money from a then unreliable advertising market, unlike BBC Worldwide where the likes of Teletubbies, Tweenies and Bob the Builder became key money earners for the Corporation.[14]

Steven Andrew took over as ITV's controller of children and youth, overseeing the merger of Carlton and Granada's children's departments. Andrew also began looking at the possibility of launching a CITV channel, which had previously been put on hold by budget cuts. On-screen, various changes to the continuity presenting team saw no less than eight additions and replacements in the space of four years. By 31 August 2004, all in-vision continuity was replaced by a voice over, while ITV plc announced the closure of its presentation and transmission facilities in Birmingham, signalling the end of CITV continuity from Central. Presentation was relocated to Granada in Manchester by November 2004.

Further cuts back took place in 2005[17] added with the perceived rising costs of original production and the effects on advertising revenues following the ban by Ofcom on 'junk food' advertising within children's schedules from 2007[18][19] and increasing competition from CBBC and countless digital children's channels for new programmes (especially imported cartoons, typically from America). In Summer 2006, ITV closed down its in-house children's production unit, as part of ITV's then on-going process of restructuring ITV Productions, and blaming the closure because of the competitive production environment, though ITV denied any intention of ditching its children's programming from its network schedule.[20] At the end of 2006, CITV's weekday afternoon strand on the main ITV network ceased, making the CITV channel, which had launched earlier that year, the primary outlet for ITV's kids programming.

CITV logo (2 November 2009 - 13 January 2013)

In July 2009, ITV announced it was the only channel to have an increased budget. Emma Tennant, the then controller of CITV, told the Showcomotion conference "The commissioning budgets for all channels next year are going to be smaller, except CITV, which is growing – but it will not necessarily spend the additional money on original commissions". It was also made clear due to tight budgets it may just lead to more acquisitions rather than new programmes being commissioned.[21]