BBC Kids was a Canadian specialty television channel carrying programming for children and teenagers.[1] It was a joint venture between Knowledge West Communications, which managed the network and held the majority 80% interest and was a subsidiary of Knowledge Network, with BBC Studioslicensing the BBC brand and holding the remaining 20% in the joint venture. Originally an ad-supported network, it transitioned to non-commercial operation when it was transferred to Knowledge.
History
Launch
Original logo, used from 2001 to 2016.
In November 2000, Alliance Atlantis was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch BBC Kids, described as "a national English language Category 2 (what is the current category B) specialty television service devoted to top-quality educational and entertaining programming for children and youth (ages 2-17). It will feature programming primarily from the UK and around the world. 65% of the programming will target children ages 2 to 7, and 35% will target youth ages 8 to 17."[2]
Transition from Alliance Atlantis to Knowledge Network
On January 18, 2008,[5] a joint venture between Canwest and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners known as CW Media, [6] acquired control of BBC Kids through its purchase of Alliance Atlantis' broadcasting assets, which were placed in a trust in August 2007.[7] It then became a part of Shaw Communications on October 10, 2010 after it acquired Canwest outright with the GSCP stake in CW Media.[8]
Shaw's ownership would be short-lived due to regulatory requirements to sell some former CW Media assets, and that process started on December 22, 2010 with early due diligence with a then-undisclosed sales partner.[9] On January 17, 2011, Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Government of British Columbia, announced it had finalized an agreement to purchase the channel through a subsidiary called Knowledge-West Communications Corporation from Shaw Media. BBC Worldwide would retain its existing interest.[10] The sale was completed on April 29, 2011, and with it and CRTC approval, it converted from a commercial network to a non-commercial service, while relocating operations from Toronto to Burnaby in suburban Vancouver.
The transaction resulted in a decision by cable providers in The Bahamas and Jamaica (which generally import Canadian channels onto their services for the convenience of snowbirds visiting the West Indies) to drop the network at the end of 2011.[11][12]
Closure
On October 2, 2018, a joint statement from Knowledge Network and BBC announced the channel would cease operations at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve 2018.[13] Though there was no reasoning for the closure said originally, then-Knowledge chief Rudy Buttignol subsequently cited the end of the CRTC's traditional protection of small and independent networks to allow for broader discretionary services without any programming restrictions. Knowledge continues to carry programming from the BBC, and CBBC/CBeebies programming as a part of Knowledge Kids, including programming from BBC Kids merged onto the Knowledge schedule.[14] On January 10, 2019, the CRTC revoked the channel's license at the request of Knowledge.[15]
CBeebies – The network's preschool block, premiered after the shift of control to Knowledge and airing in the morning; similar to the BBC original.
Cartoon Afternoons – The channel's afternoon block of animation.
Drama at 8 – A primetime block featuring family sitcoms and dramas.
The logo used for identification of the "BBCK" 'mini-network'.
BBCK – A block which aired from April 3, 2006 until the Knowledge transfer in the overnight period, focusing on programming for older teenagers, purposefully scheduled to appear as its own network a la the US' The N with its own website and continuity separate from BBC Kids.
The Spot – Aired from the network's first introduction until the Knowledge transfer as the network's block for pre-teen audiences from the afternoon until the start of BBCK on weekdays and in the mornings on weekends.
^Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (January 10, 2019). "BBC Kids – Revocation of licence". crtc.gc.ca.
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