MIAMI – CBC has a picked up a slate of new kids content for its OTT platforms CBC Gem and French-language ICI Tou.tv after announcing an expanded commitment to serving young audiences.
“As Canada’s public broadcaster, we want to accompany Canadians on a lifelong journey”, said CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait Tuesday from the annual international Kidscreen Summit. “To better engage young audiences beyond the preschool demographic, we are redirecting some funding to invest in programming including digital content targeted to school-aged kids, tweens and teens. This includes acquisitions and original storytelling from Canadian creators that celebrates inclusiveness, diversity, equality and social values.”
With CBC Kids is now aiming to reach audiences aged 6-12, the ‘pubcaster said that new original programming will include tween action-adventure series Detention Adventure (10×11), which will premiere this spring on CBC Gem. It also greenlit Let’s Talk About Sex (35×5), the English-language version of On parle de sexe, which will provide tweens with age-appropriate information on healthy sexuality. It will premiere as the first original factual series for kids on CBC Gem in 2020.
CBC/Radio-Canada also pledged to continue to explore national and international partnerships to tell Canadian stories on a 
more significant scale and share them with audiences around the world. It cited examples of some new partnerships such as tween sci-fi action adventure Endlings (12×30; Sinking Ship Entertainment for CBC/Radio-Canada, Hulu, NDR, CBBC, ABC Australia, Universal Kids US, NRK, SVT) and Molly Of Denali (38×30; Atomic Cartoons for CBC Kids, WGBH, PBS), an animated series for young children that tells the story of a 10-year-old Indigenous girl and shines a spotlight on Indigenous storytelling and perspectives.
This follows up on a bit of the strategy tweeted out by Tait at the CMPA's Prime Time in Ottawa two weeks ago where she said: "If a child establishes a relationship with their public broadcaster when they’re young, they’re more likely to keep that relationship their entire life."
