In the light of ITV1 opening negotiations with Ofcom about moving its kids programming, the BBC today admitted it was considering moving its children's shows too.
BBC daytime controller Jay Hunt admitted that ITV's plan to ditch children's programming from ITV1's afternoon schedule, will have an inevitable knock on effect at the BBC.
Hunt admitted that the corporation will look at "rationalising" its kids output on BBC1 and BBC2.
While she was loath to spell out what exactly this "rationalisation" would involve - and stressed that it is not being actively considered now - it seems clear that the BBC might respond to ITV's move by switching its own weekday afternoon output from BBC1 to BBC2, ending many years of broadcasting tradition.
Ms Hunt said it was inevitably something that would be looked at between now and digital switchover in 2012.
"If ITV moves its children's programmes, we will need to look at how we programme [kids shows] on BBC1 and BBC2, she said after the session.
Later Speaking in a later Edinburgh session, BBC director of TV Jana Bennett said the corporation was looking at the future of children's output on BBC1 and BBC2, but added that this had not been triggered by ITV's move to ditch kids programming from ITV1.
Ms Bennett said that the success of Channel 4's Deal or No Deal on weekday afternoons was also having an impact on BBC1's children's output, as was the fact kids were migrating to digital TV faster than any other demographic.
"It's nothing to do with ITV. We are looking at the journey children are making from analogue to digital TV - there's inevitably going to be migration," she added.
"We are thinking about the timescale for that. At some point as we move towards digital switchover kids will be switching over more fully."
Ms Bennett said moving the CBBC weekday afternoon programming bloc from BBC1 to BBC2 was just one of a number of options that would be considered.
But she added that the BBC would still maintain the range of its children's output.
