The BBC has indicated that it will not be getting rid of its children’s channels, following an online petition pleading with the network to clarify its stance. Budget savings have been widely forecasted at the BBC recently, with some of it coming from programming being axed.

However, more than 130,000 people have signed a petition at Change.org calling for the under-6 channel CBeebies to be spared the chop. It was launched just six days ago after Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, warned that budget cuts meant that some services would inevitably have to be reduced or closed, and they would appear to have been successful in their aims.

Sid SloaneSid Sloane, a long-standing CBeebies presenter. The channel is safe from the BBC axe.

Hall addressed MPs at the Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday (September 15th), stating: “We don't have proposals to take CBeebies and CBBC, as channels, out of the environment. We’re talking about how we can make sure that the 20%, and growing, number of young people can use the good things the BBC can offer.”

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There had been fears that CBeebies and CBBC might be scrapped altogether, or switched to online-only content as part of plans earlier hinted at by Hall to create ‘iPlay’, an interactive platform created solely for children.

The petition says: “The BBC are considering axing the CBeebies channel as a cost-saving measure. CBeebies plays a significant role in the lives of most parents with little ones, providing both education and entertainment, and affords parents time to do something else (cooking dinner for example!) while their little one is relaxing watching CBeebies. Please sign this petition so the BBC know the value of this channel.”

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