BBC Plans Revamp of Kids’ Channels

LONDON, November 3: The BBC is planning a major revamp of
its kids’ services CBBC and CBeebies, MediaGuardian reported today, with CBBC
focusing in on the 6-to-12 set while CBeebies will target the under-sixes.

According to the British newspaper, presenter links between
programs will be eliminated, with the money saved to be reinvested in
programming. Upcoming show highlights include The Roman Mysteries, which is budgeted at £1 million per hour, the
report says, and is set in ancient Rome; and the spy drama MI High from Spooks producers Kudos.

CBBC’s creative director, Anne Gilchrist, is quoted as
saying, "Our conclusion was we need to do fewer programs, better. The
sorts of things we want to do more of are in the areas of comedy and specialist
factual—areas I don't think we've done before.”

She added, "We are assembling various bits of the
puzzle at the moment, but we're not sure quite when [the relaunch] will
[happen]."