The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
May 26, 2022
A CBBC dog saying 'normal men, innocent men' has become the internet's new favourite meme
CBBC
CBBC, the channel which has brought us classics such as The Story of Tracey Beaker, Raven and Bamzooki, will close “after the next few years”, it has been announced.
Plans to scrap the linear channel, alongside BBC Four and Radio 4 Extra, come as director-general Tim Davie said the fight for freely available public service content was “intensifying”.
He told staff on Thursday: “This is our moment to build a digital-first BBC. Something genuinely new, a Reithian organisation for the digital age, a positive force for the UK and the world.
“Independent, impartial, constantly innovating and serving all. A fresh, new, global digital media organisation which has never been seen before.
“Driven by the desire to make life and society better for our licence fee payers and customers in every corner of the UK and beyond. They want us to keep the BBC relevant and fight for something that in 2022 is more important than ever.
“To do that we need to evolve faster and embrace the huge shifts in the market around us.”
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The BBC has also proposed the creation of ‘BBC News’ – not the one we have now, obviously – which would be a “single, 24-hour TV news channel serving UK and international audiences” together.
While the UK has the BBC News Channel, more than 200 countries worldwide have access to BBC World News.
But it’s the axing of the linear CBBC channel (Newsround’s Ricky Boleto reports the children’s news service and Blue Peter will “continue as digital first brands”) which has angered Twitter users:
\u201c@rickyboleto What about working class kids whose parents can't afford expensive streaming platforms? When I was younger, it took us ages to be able to afford a Freeview box, so we used to just watch the CBBC shows on BBC2 \ud83d\ude2d\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201c@rickyboleto Parents look to CBBC for a safe space & expanding educational programming for all ages. CBBC is a curated range of programming. If you leave it to the streaming and market forces parents will not get any support in finding quality & challenging programming that is age appropriate\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201c@rickyboleto \ud83d\ude29\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude21\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201c@rickyboleto Oh no! That\u2019s awful. The difference in educational value between CBBC content and US cartoons on Netflix et Al is incalculable.\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201c@rickyboleto The obvious solution is to return it to BBC1 or BBC2, between 3 and 5:30pm where it should always have been.\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201c@rickyboleto This is wrong. The BBCs children's output is pretty much the best in the world.\u201d— Ricky Boleto (@Ricky Boleto) 1653571523
\u201cOh my gosh, this is so sad. What about schools? I hope the commitment will still be there for younger audiences, it\u2019s imperative Newsround doesn\u2019t disappear, it\u2019s vital for kids for them to know what\u2019s going on in the world around them\u201d— Ayshah Tull (@Ayshah Tull) 1653575309
Meanwhile CBeebies is understood to remain as a TV channel.
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