Breaking the rules for children’s TV is a good idea

Michael Hedges March 24, 2008

Children learn by breaking rules, testing what’s possible, finding their own choices. They see a lot of TV, some really good, some really stupid. Main channel broadcasters cutting back on children’s programming are acting in loco parentis; not to kids but their parents.

In the UK, ITV has steadily reduced its program content for children on main channel ITV1. And it would like to make further reductions. ITV1 offered 10 hours of children’s programming per week in 2005. Last year ITV said it would cut that to 2 hours per week.

UK media regulator OFCOM objected and requested 4 hours per week be broadcast. ITV offered two and a half hours per week and refused to be pushed for more. As a commercial public service broadcaster, ITV is given broad authority under law to determine and change many aspects of programming output.

Broadcasters have cut back on children’s television programming and, in particular, commissioning original content. For free-to-air TV broadcasters children’s programming is a give-away they can no longer afford. Audiences are dropping and restrictive ad rules have dried up easy revenue streams (read: junk food).  

It isn’t that the under 16 set has turned away from TV. They watch about two and a half hours a day in Europe, compared to four hours in the US. Dedicated channels for kids, many offering non-stop cartoons, have sprung up. Those channels are desperate for content, particularly that of a non-challenging variety.

When OFCOM reviewed ITV’s proposal last October (2007) it noted that only 17% of the total hours of children’s programming broadcast in the UK were of UK productions.

The retreat from original production could benefit legacy children’s programming producer The Walt Disney Company.

Disney is making moves on the European market for children’s television programming. Last May the company set up a London production office. More recently, Disney has commissioned UK studios to create and produce animated series targeting the pre-school audience. The Financial Times (March 24) reported that Cornwall studio Spider Eye has the green light from Disney to begin production of Jungle Junction, a 3D animated series.

Children’s television programming has supporters and detractors. There is an almost visceral belief that if children watch TV what they see should be healthy. There’s no doubt that children watch TV, much of that viewing migrating to the internet.

A report released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR UK) (March 24) reveals the less than startling suggestion that teens in the UK are spending up to 20 hours per week online. The report says children are being “raised online.” Broadcast content can be regulated, depending on the vitality of the regulator, but not so internet content, unless you live in China or Iran.

Whinging about the hours teens and children spend with the internet today follows the decades old whinging about the time spend watching TV. Salon writer Laura Miller (March 24) suggests that adults complaining about the media habits of the young pre-dates TV. In the 1950’s – and earlier – comic book publishers faced criticism for violent content aimed at children, leading to enforced self-regulation, inevitably leading to the decline of comic book publishing.

Miller makes the argument that young people’s choices, media included, form a cultural barrier to the adult world. It’s as natural as the parental drive to protect the young. “Comics,” she writes, “were an easy target for morals crusaders because their constituency -- children and teenagers -- couldn't stand up for themselves and their rights.”

With that in mind, the answer would be to keep children’s TV alive, even if what they watch and where they watch it is a little scary.