Description
CBeebies 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 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older children ages 6–12. It broadcasts every day from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, timesharing with BBC Four.
History
On November 20, 2001, the CBeebies name was officially revealed as part of the split of the already-existing CBBC block, and would be used as both a pre-school block and a digital channel.
The CBeebies channel launched on 11 February, 2002 alongside the CBBC channel, as a spinoff from the BBC's children's television strand. The first four shows to air on the channel were Teletubbies, Binka, Step Inside, and Pingu. CBeebies domestically broadcasts from 6 am to 6:58 pm, broadcasting 7 days per week, and as a result, it timeshares with fellow BBC channel BBC Four, which is on air after this channel goes off air for the night.
The station was joined in March 2007 by an audio CBeebies Radio, which broadcast for three hours each day on BBC Radio 7 until April 2011. CBeebies Radio, however, has continued as a feature on CBeebies' website since 2013, and as a station on BBC Sounds broadcasting from 6am to 10pm. A CBeebies Weekly magazine was first published in 2006.
Since March 2013, CBeebies has been carried by the British Forces Broadcasting Service, sharing a channel with BFBS Extra. CBeebies is also available in Ireland.
In September 2018 as part of a branding strategy, the unbranded 2-hour children's block on BBC Alba was split into CBeebies Alba and CBBC Alba, with the former airing during the first hour and the latter airing during the second hour. This block features its own presentation, presenters and shows in the Scottish Gaelic language. The only presenter shared between the CBeebies Alba block and CBeebies channel is Dodge T. Dog, who appears on an occasional basis.
On 15 March 2023, CBeebies rebranded its channel identity, in line with a wider corporate rebranding across the BBC starting in 2021. This was CBeebies' first rebrand, retiring the logo that the channel had used since its launch 21 years earlier. The new style featured a new logo in line with the BBC's 2021 logo, as well as a revamped appearance of the 'bug' characters that have been part of the channel's identity since launch.BBC Studios owns and operates the international CBeebies feeds, with most of them operating on a 24-hour schedule.
The first international launch for the CBeebies channel was in India in May 2007, although the channel was withdrawn at the end of November 2012 due to "commercial considerations". The Polish CBeebies channel was launched on 2 December 2007, while feeds in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, South Africa, and Australia were launched in 2008. In March 2011, an on demand version of the network was launched in the US and is available on Xfinity.
On 13 May 2011, CBeebies was launched as a programme block on the channel BBC Kids in Canada, available on weekdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. It served a similar schedule to the main channel. The block ceased alongside its main channel on 31 December 2018, with some programmes moving to Knowledge Network.
In April 2015, BBC Worldwide signed with South Korean broadcaster KBS and Japanese broadcaster Kids Station to launch CBeebies blocks on both channels.
In April 2016, a channel for the MENA region was launched.
On 10 March 2017, CBeebies Asia was launched in Taiwan, replacing BBC Entertainment. CBeebies Asia has already launched in Hong Kong, South Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Maldives, Macau, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. On 13 April 2017, the localized CBeebies feed for Latin America ceased operations along with BBC Earth and BBC Entertainment.
On 5 April 2018, a feed was launched on Digiturk in Turkey.
On 1 December 2019, the Australia feed launched in New Zealand on Sky.
In July 2020, it was relaunched in India, but with pan-Asian feed in English audio track only.
On 31 October 2020, CBeebies and CBeebies en Español were removed from all cable and satellite providers in the United States.
On 11 January 2022, BBC Kids launched as a FAST channel on Pluto TV in the United States, which airs select CBeebies and CBBC shows from the BBC Studios catalogue. A version of the channel that airs Spanish-dubbed programming titled "Niños por BBC" was launched on the same day. Both channels have since been removed, with Niños por BBC being shut down as a result. BBC Kids continues to be available on other FAST providers in the United States.
