| BBC Kids | |
| Language: | English |
| Owner: | BBC Studios |
| Terr Serv 1: | Fetch TV (Australia) |
| Terr Chan 1: | 250 |
BBC Kids is the international children's brand of BBC Studios,[1] and has been applied to a number of TV services. It draws from the long history of children's programming on the BBC, and is strongly related to the CBBC channel in the United Kingdom.
See main article: BBC Kids (Canadian TV channel). The BBC Kids brand was first introduced in Canada with the launch of the BBC Kids channel on 5 November 2001. It was described as a specialty television service devoted to educational and entertaining programming for children and youth (ages 2–17). Most of the channel's programming was from the UK.[2] The channel was a joint venture between Alliance Atlantis and BBC Worldwide, the BBC's overseas operating arm.[3] [4]
Control was eventually transferred to Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Government of British Columbia with BBC Worldwide retaining its existing interest.[5] On 2 October 2018, a joint statement from Knowledge Network and BBC announced the channel would cease operations at the stroke of midnight on 1 January 2019. The channel's license was revoked by the CRTC on 10 January 2019, at the request of Knowledge.[6]
See main article: BBC Kids (Australian TV channel).
BBC Kids launched on 24 April 2021 on Fetch TV in response to Cartoon Network and Boomerang entering an exclusivity agreement with Foxtel and departing the Fetch lineup.[7] This complemented an existing CBeebies channel available in Australia, catering to children aged 0 to 6. The channel was launched with popular children's shows from the UK.[8]
On 11 January 2022, BBC Studios added BBC Kids as an additional channel to the Pluto TV platform in the United States, both in English (as "BBC Kids") and in Spanish (as "Niños por BBC").[9]
Taiwan Mobile myVideo has become the first streaming platform in Asia to launch BBC Kids as a Video on Demand channel, which was launched on 1 July 2022. The channel has included titles that had been previously aired on CBeebies Asia to bring along other titles that was tailored for kids audiences, such as Spy in the Wild and Deadly 60.[10]
A BBC Kids subscription app service with 100 hours of content became available in South Africa in September 2022, through a partnership of Switch Media and MTN Group.[11]
| Launch date | Country (via streaming service) | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (via Fetch TV) | |||
| (via Pluto TV) | |||
| (via Taiwan Mobile myVideo) | [12] | ||
| (via Switch Media and MTN) | |||
| July 24, 2023 | (via Prime Video) | [13] |