CBBC: launch dates and new shows

Monday 11 February will be the Big Bang as far as the BBC's digital kids' channels go, as the corporation finally sets the launch date for its two new services.

Debuting that day will be CBBC, a channel aimed at 6-13ers, and CBeebies, targeting the pre-school set. Both channels will be ad-free and offer plenty of original commissions.

Further new greenlights for the new channels include a commission for a new Sunday morning show, Smile. CBBC's head Nigel Pickard has ordered a 60-week run of the in-house show, fronted by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates (Diggit).

CBBC has also teamed up with BBC Radio 1 to produce a Top 40 pop music show, fronted by ex-Blue Peter face Konnie Huq and Adrian Dickson. {Music is a core part of the lives of the CBBC audience,{ said Pickard.

As previously reported on C21media.net, CBBC has also teamed up with Sesame Street producer Sesame Workshop and Australia's ABC to co-produce a new 13×30' primetime drama series aimed at kids 8-12.

Entitled Two Down Under, the show is set in Australia and centres on an animal hospital on the outskirts of Sydney. It follows two kids (one British, one American) as they involve themselves with various animal-related stories.

The script is written by US scribe Willy Reale (Deadline). As well as CBBC and ABC, the show is due to air in the US on Noggin, the US digital channel jointly owned by Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon.

On CBeebies, Ragdoll's new show Teletubbies Everywhere will make its premiere. Pickard added that two further series had been greenlit for the pre-school channel.

Flip Flop (wt) is a costume/puppet show about a floating island and comes from the in-house production team, while Finders (wt) is a show about a community of creatures in a magical environment, commissioned from Novel Entertainment.