I wasn't even surprised. Even a final montage of CITV would've been enough. But no, like so many modern channel shutdowns, it just goes off and that's it, which is truly a shame.
It would've been good to do a marathon of shows that they've aired from the past forty years through the week, give the parents something to reminisce about as well as the children too! Would've at least cushioned the blow of losing the channel that I'm sure was a source of nostalgia for those who grew up with it. I was more of a Disney and CBBC kind of kid, but I did watch bits of CITV, mostly Pokémon. Just a shame that they got killed off on their fortieth birthday, so much for life beginning at forty, right!? Why not as a compromise, bring back a programming strand on ITV2 or ITV1 for the children who don't have internet access, put it on the weekends or after school, that way everyone is happy.
Or better yet: ITV should’ve continued to care about kids programming and NOT shut down Citv at all! The fact that they cut Citv’s hours on ITV1 in the mid-2000s, phased out preschool programming in 2013/14 and didn’t even launch a Citv+1 channel shows how little they care about kids programming overall!
Tell ya what, least they actually made AN acknowledgement about the closedown... unlike a certain trio of Disney channels which turned into placeholder branding-slides mid continuity. After what happened with the Disney trio, my expectations were lowered greatly, so to see there be warnings continually, and a visible transition to it... satisfactory but could have been so much more. NOTE: They're still broadcasting this '''''nightlight'''' loop on the remaining broadcasts, such as Sky's, as I write this comment.
I’m pretty sure what Disney Junior used may have been a test card. They might have shown it had they gone down with technical difficulties. I still remember Nickelodeon once in 1996 facing a glitch, causing them to cut to a “Sorry, we’ve been dogged” message!
This is the same ITV who turned Christmas day to Just This Morning,Cooking shows and The Chase with no TV special or even Movies a few years back they stopped caring.
Christmas Day ITV1 has Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning, The Chase, Corrie, Emmerdale and then a token new show - ITV gave up about caring about Christmas in 1993.
Christmas Days of my youth - we rarely put the telly on much before 3 pm in time for Lizzie’s Christmas speech - whatever channel we watched her on depended on what film the adults wanted to watch on BBC 1 or ITV after Lizzie! Please note - the adults - they struggled with the concept of democracy! I remember the adults all wanted to watch the première of Paint Your Wagon - it took ten years to finally get on television - it was nearly over before they decided it was rubbish! Generally speaking, Christmas fortnight was usually the time of year for the first showing on British television for movie blockbusters - there was usually a five year gap between screening in cinemas and it appearing on television - today, it’s about a year! By the time terrestrial television got its hands on many movies - particularly the violent ones or those with swearing - most of them had been shredded to ribbons in a bid to make them family-friendly - or, at least, less adult - Saturday Night Fever in its full form had quite a lot of strong language - an A-certificate (PG in today’s vernacular) version was issued in cinemas with most of the adult content being heavily censored or overdubbed with milder swearing - the version that was premiered on television was even more heavily censored to the point where it was screened in the early evening - although the uncensored version has aired late at night!
@@arthurvasey One thing you have to take into consideration regarding who gets to watch what on Christmas day, was who was paying for it all. Nothing to do with democracy, as such. The saying of, 'he who pays the piper calls the tune', was often used by my parents regarding choices of what was to be watched. I couldn't wait to get my own little portable TV, even if it was only black & white. I've never seen, nor ever wanted to see, Paint Your Wagon. I think my parents owned the LP with the music from it on, but again I never heard any of it. I'd imagine it wasn't something that would interest kids, though. Satellite TV pretty much ruined the concept of having, 'first showing on British television', movies shown at Christmas. The likes of Sky would out-bid both ITV and the BBC for such blockbuster movies, and so they'd often have to settle for lesser known, lesser successful movies to air on the big day. Something that became more and more noticeable as the 90's wore on. I think E.T. was probably the last true blockbuster movie I remember getting hyped-up to see on Christmas Day, back in 1988. Those who could afford Sky had already seen most, if not all of them months earlier, and so the whole idea of special movies for Christmas pretty much died on its arse. The censorious nature of editing movies for television had been going on since the 60's, thanks in large to the likes of Mary Whitehouse and his puritanical and often sanctimonious mindset. It wasn't until the 90's when movies would be shown almost entirely uncut, but even then, some scenes and language was changed to get passed the censors that still existed. Sanitised versions of movies were often put out early evening with a lot of the nuances being lost. I remember Crocodile Dundee being on one Christmas Day night, ('89, I think), and there were a fair number of jokes/one-liners that totally lost all meaning due to the amount of editing that removed references and words.
One of the things that changed is that the girl in the funniest kid advert used to say Citv is closing but then when it shut down she said Citv is closed
I heard from itv that the reason why there wasn't a big final outage was because it was on over on itv2 in the mornings which is fair but it shows the lack of care in itv of the channel
On the same day, Fun Kids disappeared from national DAB. They cite a fall in advertising revenue and the cost of broadcasting compared to streaming is rising to the point where companies are now moving online to save money. Children's broadcasting is the canary in the broadcasting mine.
Absolutely not surprised by this whatsoever, even as a tween I could see that CITV was an afterthought for ITV. I remember CBBC's 30th anniversary in 2015, I was 10 at the time and tuned into their big live celebration that they had, where they looked back on old times and brought a ton of old presenters back. It was really cool to see, and the next year when I found out that CITV's Scrambled were doing a similar anniversary for 10 years of their channel I was excited. What it actually was though was just a regular Scrambled showing with barely any references or looks back to their past. I remember being disappointed and realising that the higher-ups really weren't that bothered about their channel's history at all. I think the current (well, past, now) state of CITV was quite devoid of the personality it used to have, and pales in comparison to CBBC even by 2023 standards. It would have been nice to have an acknowledgement of its past but I would never have expected 2023 CITV to go there. What people need to remember is that this is not the same channel they grew up with, it's a completely different era run by different people with different ideals of running the channel. With that in mind I'm not too fussed about the lacklustre closedown, I said goodbye to CITV on my own terms a long time ago and I'll always treasure the memories of the shows I used to love. Nice coverage and closing thoughts, Adam. For an offhand thought, I like the hairstyle as well, it's very similar to how I style mine lol.
The CITV 30th show barely cared about their shows or history either and thought people wanted to know about one person in childrens ward is in a soap now instred. CBBC did a way better job.
I remember CITV's 20th Birthday Bash. They had an entire studio with hosts in the same way CBBC still does to this day and a huge swathe of special guests. Literally days after they had that, they started cutting CITV to the bone. Studio killed off, in-house production killed off, anything new series of value given 1 maybe 2 series, mountains of imported content, not even teaser trailers with a date and time (Only generic statements like "Mr Bean on CITV!"). CITV has had a nosedive in quality for at least 15 years and arguably, the channel's launch was an opportunity lost.
@@SkytreeTV1 That would explain why CITV's content always felt cheap. I did tune into CITV but I definitely watched CBBC more as I just preferred the programmes I think. They felt more watchable and enjoyable for the most part.
@@SkytreeTV1 Ever since the "big lads" in the franchises started swallowing up the smaller fry, the lack of any kind of individuality has been eradicated - conform or die. Generic branding, mass layoffs, cheap imported crap, slashed home-grown original productions, and endless "How can we save money whilst actually making tons more gold to please the shareholders?" meetings. I was lucky to be around when we had two aerials - one pointing at Emley Moor and one north to Pontop Pike(?) - those days Yorkshire and Tyne Tees showed different things. Thus, way before Channel 4, we had a sort of Channel 3.5. And TT had in-vision continuity! It was pretty decent, and it lasted a good few years. But the genericisation of ITV got rid of these little quirks, and everything became "Tesco Value Brand" telly.
And that funniest kid promo (no offense to the child who played her) is desperate as fuck! And Bob The Fish thought the original 1992 promo for GMTV was bad!
I wish they had ended CITV with a more classic iconic episode of one of their og show's, not just a boring episode of The Rubbish World of Dave Spud if you know what I mean. The Rubbish World of Dave Spud hadn't even been aired on CITV for that long, which is why I wish they had chosen one of their more classic and popular episodes of another one of their shows to end CITV. I hope this makes sense 😅
@@bevbeans3166 I can only assume they made Dave Spud their killer app due to losing Horrid Henry to Nicktoons. Dave Spud may not be the best cartoon out there but I’d still rather watch it than Horrid Henry, a show so bad it’s pretty much Caillou for older children!
As mentioned on the last video, im hoping ITVX do add CITV shows from the 80s and 90s as they did mention on twitter theres an interest and theyve told people they will talk with the higher ups on seeing if they can do that
I used to love watching CITV. I used to watch the after school block from 3.20pm to 5.00pm, and Fun House, Art Attack, How 2 and Round the Bend were just 4 of my favorites. I also enjoyed watching Saturday morning shows like SM:TV Live and CD:UK... I think it's a shame that CITV has been brought to and end, and I agree that they should have ended CITV with a tribute or fanfare. The way they ended CITV was abrupt and naff. Just one thing though... CITV started as an after school block and slowly transitioned into a TV channel. I wonder why CITV couldn't have transitioned from a TV channel into an online streaming service? In other words, why not keep the name CITV? Because it seems to me that they've just killed off a franchise that they've had since the 80's and replaced it with a franchise that's exactly the same in concept as CITV but with a name that just doesn't roll off the tongue as well. "ITV X Kids". Sounds like a name Elon Musk would approve of.
I never get why people are shocked when a brand is killed off with little fanfare. If they're killing off a brand intentionally they'll slip it away out the back door (Sky One etc). If it's against their will (TVAM etc) then they will make a song and dance about it. Sucks though! Was sad to see it go. I was a CITV boy growing up, and my dad had a few commissioned shows on there in the 80s/90s.
Hey Adam - ace video again. Why are we shocked? Those of us, err, older people, who look back on TV from the 1970s with a bit of nostalgia are remembering when ITV had *regional* identities. We remember the amazing schools programmes made by ATV. We remember every local news programme being different. I recall being on holiday and being amazed by in-vision continuity and thinking how nice and personal it was. But during the 90s onwards, after the rules around ITV Regional Identities, local news, current affairs, and more importantly, multi-channel ownership, were thrown out the window, ITV simply became *a thing*. A huge corporate monolith. No personality, no local feeling, no *love* essentially. So when ITV is forced to remember its past for a moment, everyone at this modern media giant becomes collectively embarrassed and keen to just ignore it if possible. It wouldn't do anything for the passing of CITV, simply because it's a period that they'd all rather forget. The days when my Gramma (sadly missed and still loved after all these decades) would say "See what's on the other", despite there being TWO BBC channels and one ITV in the region. They have blinkers on and can only look forward. That way, anything old, embarrassing, or relating to ITV regions they destroyed (I'm looking at you, Southern, and TWW sort of), and the regions they absorbed to become the giant they are now, they simply cannot see, and refuse to acknowledge. Unless they can monetise repeats, of course!! Sometimes you CAN flog a dead horse... Take care Adam, as ever, great video, smart presentation! All the best from way way up North!
I was born in 1983 and just about remember the last few years of truly regional ITV. Just about everyone referred to the BBC and ITV as 'the other side' relative to each other, if that's what you mean. ITV was still to an extent establishing itself as a new network when BBC2 launched in 1964, so I suspect the phrase 'the other side' was still gaining traction at the time and wasn't affected by there now being a third side in a manner of speaking. Also I think people may have been lumping BBC1 and BBC2 together as kind of one side with two personalities, and possibly some also did the same with ITV and Channel 4 between 1982 and 1992, given that Channel 4 was literally the second ITV channel until C4 went independent in 1993.
@@MrDannyDetail It depended on where you lived - Scunthorpe in the early 70s had BBC 1, BBC 2, Yorkshire, and Anglia (from Belmont), so there was some identification of 'the other side' you were heading to, since Yorkshire and Anglia did have different programming. All that stopped in 1974.
@@MrDannyDetail Yes, you're absolutely right. My Gramma (that's what we called her, but of course, it's really "Grandma" - someone to do with me being very little and that's how I pronounced it and it sort of stuck!) was around for BBC TV starting up again post-war, then the commercial company (ITV) coming along. So for folks of that generation, there were only two channels, so each was referred to as "the other" when watching one of them. Given the way TV is going now, and is certainly highlighted by the closure of CITV, and the planned retiring of CBBC in a couple of years, it seems to *me* at least that they are preparing for the eventual dismantling of terrestrial TV altogether in the end. Even just the economy of scale would dictate that there is no longer a need for PUSH content, we're becoming finally PULL consumers. Many years ago, almost another life, I posited that PUSH would eventually end. RU-vid was a big part of this. The idea of a channel that provides random content all day is diminishing - and it costs a fortune. They closed the short wave radio stations due to the huge costs, and followed it with the medium wave transmitters. And then there's the huge dropoff in trust in BBC news.... And on and on it goes... The nostalgia still lingers though!! 🙂
@@bradmiley I know that the 1990 Broadcasting Act has allowed Carlton (the successor to Thames) and Granada to join forces in abolishing region specific ITV…
@@calvinjacksthe2nd469 TVS was one of the franchise holders involved in the infamous 1990 Broadcasting Act, the others were teletext holder Oracle, TV am, TSW and Thames Television
I didn't see your previous video last week, so I didn't know the close down date, but with how ITV has been going for years it doesn't surprise me how it went like that.
I missed the final shut down as I was working. Honestly, I think that leading up to the shutdown they should have ran some of the older CiTv shows though the years. Such as ‘My Parents are aliens.’ ‘Jungle Run.’ ‘Art Attack.’ Plus a few others. This is heartbreaking. RIP CiTv and thank you for the memories. 💔💔💔💔
I would've had a farewell compilation of children's ITV presentation from the early Watch It! animations through various Children's ITV presentation/logos etc to the present day and ended with a pre-recorded farewell message thanking viewers for watching the linear channel and thanking the people who worked on it then directing affected people to ITVX Kids before pulling the plug on the satellite Freeview and cable TV feeds at 9pm.
I remember the Watch It! strand pretty well. The first attempt from ITV to have children's programmes compartmentalised into a section specifically for kids to watch. Prior to that, it was just the same presentation/continuity as all other programmes. The same with the BBC. Although, it took them a few more years before they go around to the same level of presentation.
The ending of the CITV channel was even more unceremonious on Freeview, where the bandwidth is switched to ITV3+1 at exactly 9pm. There was the trailer with that girl, then the caption, then as the trailer with the girl ran for a second time it was like someone just pulled the plug whilst she was mid sentence, and that was around one minute before their freeview timeslot actually ran out. I gather that CITV's bandwidth is being used for ITVBe+1 now. Also I was surprised to read this morning that the CITV branding was unexpectedly being used on the 7 days a week morning slot on ITV2, so I switched on the TV this morning and chose ITV2, and sure enough there was the CITV branding still on air. I just wished they'd made it much clearer that the brand would continue, as the impression their previous information gave was that the programming that had been on the CITV Channel would air on ITV2, but that the CITV brand would cease.
As we can see tv is dying and going online it sad to see our chiledhood go. first it was Disney channels then CITV and CCBC to come next its sad for the kids today to what we had as kids. Sky trying to something with sky kid that they has just launched they still have Nickelodeon Cartoon Network and Boomerang if they go it will the end to kids tv
I was disappointed too. They couldn't have done a montage if they wanted to because the bulk of CITV shows that we all grew up with back in the day was sold off to the Yanks!
I was quite surprised that CITV didn't do a special 40th anniversary weekend or the equivalent of back at the start of the year, it was a shock that it didn't even attempt to show some form of a tribute to mark the end of the channel yesterday (1 September) ITV on the whole has really gone downhill and that's adding insult to injury to kids in particular. I have found memories of the channel as I pretty much grew up with it . I liked Knightmare in particular as well as all the Saturday morning kids programmes like Motormouth and Ghost Train.
What kind of finale would kids expect? Forces TV at least acknowledged that viewers were watching when that channel closed down last year, but that was for adults.
Soon children's television won't even be a thing in the future. CBBC is already being planned to shut down in 2025 and now CITV has turned digital. Tragic.
The reason why they didn’t play anything special at the end is because CITV is not ending, it’s now just reverted to its former role as a children’s programming block on a channel that is not dedicated to children’s programmes. Which is probably why I don’t feel that sad about this, as that’s precisely what I knew it as (although the time and channel of said block has changed) and it still exists. I was far too old for kids TV when the CITV channel launched.
The ironic thing is that BBC Breakfast gave CITV a better send off than ITV. Such a pity. I still want to be a contestant on Fun House and Finders Keepers
For a mum of an awesome autistic son this was one of the worst things that itv could do! My son does not care about streaming! All he’s concerned about is that 103 is CITV!…it’s all about money not people!😡😡😡
Hey @Adam Martin, what was the schedule for the launch day of the ITVx Kids live feed channel (2nd September 2023) on the ITVx streaming website? Just curious to know since I am not good at documenting schedules of live feed channels on streaming apps that much. Also I'm surprised that ITVx Kids runs 24/7 all hours of the day and night instead of just airing 12-15 hours per day like the linear channel
Disney was not much better either. Out of the TENS of channels shutdown recorded by Sonarix and the HUNDREDS worldwide only about 2 or 3 bothered to do some kind of effort in its shutdown. In the playlist you need to go about 3 hours in the whole playlist to see 1 decent shutdown (It was Disney XD in Japan by the way). Disney even had the tongue and cheek to shutdown all Disney channel's in 1 day in the UK and all 13 FOX channels in Asia as a well as some 10 FOX and National Geographic channels Latin America
I watched the channel collapse on Freeview Freeview had a different screen after the channel turned off Am I the only one who thought it looked a bit creepy?
What I find confusing is that they still keep using the CITV idents branding since the 2013 ITV plc. Corporate Rebrand on the new ITV2 kids programs block running from 5:00am-9:00am even though the channel just died and ceased operations three days ago
You were expecting something substantial from a corporation? They're not Thames or TSW, mate! This itv plc does not give a toss about closing a channel. They're so unlike Thames, that it would have been a shock for them to have made any effort to close the channel with any semblance of respect or gratitude towards the viewers - kids and parents/guardians alike.
They think online is better bbc three used be online after moving but now they back on tv so wouldn't surprise me that citv will be back on tv same with bbc 3
I was really disappointed but not surprised. It would've been better to end on some classic idents and to have shown old shows during its final day before having a final shutdown. I was so disappointed when that ITVX kids funniest kids thingy came on and kept repeating
There is no CITV website as seen at 2:57 but CITV is on Sky and i'm guessing other places such as Virgin Media still, the rolling programmes are " ..programes no longer avaliable " with the ITVX advert performed by that girl, and the caption card on repeat.
I was fully expecting this sadly, when Disney shut their channels down, there was no “thank you for watching for the past blah blah years, we appreciate your company, blah blah” it was just “it’s gone now, stop crying and go stream our shows🙄”
I'm 61 and from the era of jackanory, crackerjack, watch with mother, blue Peter with val, John and Pete, catweazle and lift off with Ayshea 👍 Oh, and magpie with Tony Bastable, Susan Stranks and Dougie Ray.
The days of ceremony regarding milestones in television are well gone. Even in the 90's, when television channels were, (relatively), few, whenever a channel began or closed, it was done rather unceremoniously to say the least. No fanfare or tribute/send-offs, just a caption and silence, pretty much saying, 'There's no more TV here. You have to go somewhere else to find it.' Compare it to how some of the old ITV franchises from the 70's and 80's signed-off, and you soon realise that television is general has become somewhat disposal in that, there's plenty of other channels offering the same thing, so it's no big deal when one closes down. A shame, but that's how it is.
I remember when it had live presenters in a special studio I hated when that changed it felt in personal like you got home from school switched on the tv and the presenters were there loving the shows watching them with you
I really can't believe there aren't many UK kid channels anymore which is crazy first Pop Girls removed then Kix, and now CITV channel is gone forever, why are they doing this because if they keep removing kids channel then there won't be any past cartoons/anime on freeview freesat to watched. What has happen to the old days when there are more cartoons to watched on the weekend just like in the 90s/ 2000.
I remember the citv on itv in the afternoon coming home from school, the stand-alone channel only came into existence on the 11th march 2006 and moved all kids stuff at the end of 2006 from ITV one
CITV NOSTALGIA CHANNEL on YOU TUBE. That would be the smart thing. Air old shows. The problem is the contractual negotiations to allow it, not covered in the original pre-digital contracts. Hundreds of performers and writers, dozens of independent companies, music rights, etc.
I'm not at all surprised that CITV went out the way that it did. The current incarnation of ITV doesn't want to be reminded of its own history, as I see it. As can be seen in 2015, they did absolutely next to nothing with regards to their 60th anniversary, apart from that hour-long live broadcast of Corrie. What passes off as management in ITV is either seemingly unable to acknowledge their heritage, or unwilling to do so. There is such an abundance of material that ITV produced for kids, even before Childrens ITV. They just don't know what they've got.
Additional Comment: An even better idea: Why not go back to basics and put CITV back on ITV's flagship channel for a couple of hours, as it used to be? The lunch time hour and the 3pm-5.30pm slot? If not on ITV1, then on ITV2 or whatever? Just a thought!
Top shows and memories on citv will always b art attack Bernards watch my parents r aliens jungle run and smtv live goodbye citv and thank u 4 everything u have done in these 40 years of fun laughter excitement and more u will b missed
Honestly Old Skool Weekend is the best thing they did in years had they cared more for their new programming just as much as they did with the anniversary at the time and today the closure wouldn't have happened so soon they definitely should have brought back the presenters over the years maybe it's a good thing they don't have presenting in 2013 because that way you can watch your shows faster.
They could have had the final week, or at least day, showing the massive hits over the last 40 years. Instead we got a slap in the face. 40 years worth of childhoods for people in the uk. Art attack, how 2, I could go on. Maybe a program on itv celebrating 40 years? No I’m equally surprised and not surprised at the same time.
