P2 - LO2 - History of Your Channel and Ident

 History of CBBC

When was CBBC launched?

The name 'CBBC' stands for 'Children`s BBC', which was used informally since 1990; which then became the official name in 1997. 

The channel originally timeshared with 'BBC Three', leading it to end every night at 7pm. When the bandwidth discontinued, the hours went up by 2; leaving CBBC to end schedules around 9pm, in order to entertain more teenagers. However, when BBC Three relaunched, the hours went back down to 7pm. 

On the 26th May 2022, the BBC announced plans for the subsidiary to discontinue as a linear TV channel in 2025; until it moves permanently onto BBC iPlayer - as the company as a whole has decided to focus on making itself into a "digital-first" BBC. Alas, this may mean that the idents featured on 2023, may be the last ever ones to air on television; before all shows and episodes move on demand to BBC iPlayer, where you don`t need to worry about scheduling.

 

Changes in the logo:

As you can see, the CBBC logo has been through lots of evolution until 2023. The colour green has resided with the rest of the logos, right after the first logo was changed. This gives a more youthful look, compared to the first one; which didn`t fit the attractiveness for the target audience. However, the only consistent feature is the branding of the conglomerate logo 'BBC'. Other than that, the logos have been re-designed in unique ways until now; where the logo is quite simplistic now.

Idents over time:

The idents overtime have stayed live action and creative with CBBC. The children are seen performing activities that are unexpected, yet still relatable. Examples like this are the flying of the drone, doing experiments with slinkys, throwing sticky toys, etc; and all of it has the same outcome of showcasing the logo made from the objects used. This is clearly illustrated at 00:43, 00:54, 1:04, 1:16. These peculiar idents also carry through with emphasising the timings these idents are specifically made for; such as at 2:20, the narrator is half-whispering, half-announcing "CBBC". Effectively, this shows that the ident is based for evening showings; especially with the background video being a boy reading his book-decorated bedsheets.

These innovative idents successfully grasp the attention of the audience as the short clips are quite adventurous. Moreover, with the consistent theme tune and ritual of chanting the channel name at the end while the logo shows, the audience become familiar with the channel`s antics and art choices; keeping them excited as to what kind of ident they will create next.

As the years progress, we see how CBBC improves the quality and imagination for each ident. The older audience will feel nostalgic as they look back and witness the previous idents; reminiscing the familiar, welcoming atmosphere.