Blue Peter is to be dropped from BBC1

Blue Peter and other children's shows to be ditched from BBC1

Mark Sweney  guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16

Blue Peter is to be dropped from BBC1 as part of wide-ranging shakeup that will see all the BBC's children's programmes moved from its flagship channel after more than 60 years.


The corporation will move all children's programming to digital channels CBBC and CBeebies, as part of wide-ranging plans to cut hundreds of millions of pounds from its budget by 2017 and rejig its output for the post-analogue broadcasting era.


Blue Peter is currently presented by Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood, and airs on BBC1 on Friday afternoons, as well as CBBC. Last Friday Blue Peter attracted 300,000 viewers and a 3% audience share, and struggles to win viewers who tune into programming aimed at adults.


On Wednesday the BBC Trust gave the green light to director general Mark Thompson's Delivering Quality First proposals, including the children's programming switch. The DQF cuts will also see fewer entertainment shows, more repeats and reduced programming budgets for BBC3 and BBC4.


The BBC Trust said that viewing of children's programming on BBC1 and BBC2 "is low and has fallen significantly over recent years".
As a result following the completion of digital switchover later this year all children's shows will transfer to CBBC and CBeebies, which the BBC Trust said will affect a "very low" number of children viewers. Following switchover CBBC and CBeebies will be available to all UK households.
The BBC Trust said that the level of investment in children's programming would be maintained, meaning that the proportion of the licence fee spent on children's output will actually increase.


"Children's output remains a cornerstone of the BBC's public service offering and one of the BBC's foremost editorial priorities," said the BBC Trust.


More details soon...