History
Further information: History of the Australian Broadcasting CorporationThe ABC Kids channel commenced transmission nationally on 1 August 2001, becoming ABC Television's first digital multichannel service. The channel, broadcast from 6:00am to 6:00pm, was officially inaugurated by former ABC Managing Director, Jonathan Shier, at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on 7 August 2001. The ABC launched the channel without additional funding, hoping that its success would prompt an additional government grant.
The ABC Kids channel was discontinued on 30 June 2003 along with Fly TV in the first of a series of cuts to save around A$25 million a year for the ABC. The ABC could not secure government funding to keep the channel on-air, and the sluggish uptake of digital television in Australia at the time made justifying a digital-only channel with a low viewership against the cost of keeping the channel on air difficult. However, the ABC Kids brand still remains on ABC1, ABC2 and ABC Online. With government backing, the ABC also launched another children's digital channel, ABC3, in late 2009.
Read more about this topic: ABC Kids Channel
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