They Have Been Watching

30 August 2002 They have been Watching Broadcasters Provision of Children’s and Young People’s TV from 1952 to 2002 Jamie Cowling and Kirsty Lee Summary From Bill and Ben to the Tweenies the broadcasting landscape has changed beyond recognition. In 1952 television was limited to the BBC monopoly providing programmes that the public ought to watch. In 2002 digital broadcasting, in theory, provides an a la carte menu of channels to suit every taste. Children and young people watch around eighteen hours of television per week1. In some multi- channel homes children and young people can choose from over seven dedicated channels. Over 40 per cent of children’s and young people’s viewing in multi- channel homes is of the non-terrestrial broadcasters. As we move towards digital switchover what has been the impact of increasing choice of channel been on the provision of the different genres of children’s and young people’s programming? Has there been a reduction in the diversity of genres available to children and young people over the years, replaced by an endless diet of animation? How have the public service broadcasters responded to competition from the non-terrestrial channels? Has the increase in total hours available to children and young people led to more imported programmes and repeats? Our research examines the provision of children’s and young people’s programming from Bill and Ben to the Tweenies. Our analysis enables us to examine the choice of programmes available to children and young people across channels and the diversity of genres provided. The research takes a snapshot of television schedules during the last week of August from 1952 to 2002. This covers the period from the BBC monopoly to the digital age. The snapshot enables us to establish general trends in the provision of children’s and young people’s programming over time and the impact of increasing competition on the children’s and young people’s television market. Children and young people today, with or without multi-channel television, have a wider choice of programmes than was available even ten years ago. This is true of all genres. The total hours of drama, factual/documentary, animation and pre- school programmes provided by the public service broadcasters has increased year on year since 1952. Cable, Satellite and now digital broadcasting have further increased the choice of available programmes for children and young people. Non- terrestrial broadcasters provide children and young people with over five hundred and twenty-eight hours of dedicated children’s and young people’s programmes per week. 1 This varies according age and sex (See Lander, 1997). Page 1 The public service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) have increased the amount of content available for children and young people from approximately four hours during the week examined in the research during the BBC monopoly to over one hundred and four hours, during the week examined, today. The public service broadcasters drive to provide more children’s and young people’s programming has to more imported programmes and repeats as a proportion of the total hours broadcast during the research period. In 1952 there were no imported programmes or repeats of programmes for children and young people. By 1992 imported programmes and repeats of programmes for children and young people represented 29.6 and 47.2 per cent of the total hours of children’s and young people’s television broadcast on the public service channels during the week examined in the research. By 2002 imported programmes represented 48.9 per cent of the total children’s and young people’s television hours broadcast during the week examined on the public service broadcasters. In 2002 repeats represented 62.2 per cent, as a proportion of, the total hours broadcast on the public service channels. Non-terrestrial broadcasters have a more diverse range of content than is often thought. Whilst animation and cartoons make up the majority of programming for children’s and young people there is also significant provision of drama and some factual and documentary content. The vast majority of children’s and young people’s programming on the non-terrestrial broadcasters is imported, with the majority of programmes coming from the United States. The research concludes that whilst children and young people have more television available than ever before regulation remains necessary in order to protect diversity and domestic production. OFCOM and the BBC Board of Governors will need to retain a robust commitment to a diversity of content, including factual and documentary programmes, for children and young people on the public service broadcasters. The research suggests that the BBC digital channels for children and young people have significantly increased the levels of domestic content available and have had little detrimental effect on the provision of domestic content other non-terrestrial broadcasters. The research indicates that the main concern must be the low levels of news provision for children and young people. Whilst children and young people do watch other news broadcasts it is depressing to see that levels of news specifically created for children and young people have barely increased since the 1980s. Competition and expansion have brought numerous benefits. Children and young people now have more programmes for them than ever before. The non-terrestrial channels increased the amount of TV available to children and young people and provide a range of high quality content. However, regulators and Government must maintain their commitment to the availability of a wide variety of genres and a significant level of domestic production. This must include news tailor-made for children and young people. Page 2 of 22 Introduction and Overview Children’s and young people’s television is seen by both policymakers and the public to be particularly important. 80 per cent of respondents to a recent ITC survey said that the most important reason for regulating television was the protection of young people and children, with a further 65 per cent arguing that children’s and young people’s television is an essential part of public service broadcasting, a higher rating than that given to educational content (Towler, 2002). Policymakers agree with the public. Children’s and young people’s programming is subject to tighter regulation by the EU and UK Government than other content. The new Draft Communications Bill places a special responsibility on the public service broadcasters with regard to children’s and young people’s television. The new communications regulator, OFCOM, must ensure that the public service broadcasters provide ‘a suitable quantity of high quality and original programmes for children and young people’ [Clause 181 (5) (f)]. Children’s and young people’s programming has been particularly affected by the advent of cable and satellite broadcasting in the UK. Whilst most still see sports and movies as the prime driver of satellite and cable take-up, the strongest predicator of a household having multi-channel television is household size. Children and young people can now choose from over six dedicated channels. Over 40 per cent of children’s viewing in multi-channel home is of non-terrestrial broadcasting (ITC, 2002). Public service broadcasters are expanding into the multi- channel world, with the BBC recently launching two new digital services for children and young people, CBBC and CBeebies. The interest in children’s and young people’s television is reflected in concerns surrounding the “dumbing down” of children’s television and particular concerns around the levels of imported programming aimed at children and young people. Whilst Under Secretary of State for School Standards, Charles Clark expressed his concerns over increasing levels of imported programming and the ‘often poor’ quality of children’s programming in an article entitled ‘Kids TV is so Bad’ (The Guardian, 1999). The current slump in advertising revenues is being felt in the children’s television sector, particularly the commercially funded public service broadcasters. The ITC’s latest Annual Report, amongst praise for individual programmes, expressed concern around children’s and young people’s programming. The ITC stated that repeats had risen on both ITV and Channel 4 and expressed concern about the budget cuts suffered by CiTV. One submission to the Joint Scrutiny Committee on the Draft Communications Bill suggested: ‘Children’s TV is seen as an expensive luxury. The problem is that children’s TV will never be profitable, and in a free market, it will reduce to showing only globally profitable brands.’ (JSC, 2002) In the near future the Government will decide whether or not to grant approval for a new BBC digital service aimed at young people, BBC3. During the consultation period for the new BBC Digital Services some non-terrestrial broadcasters argued Page 3 of 22 against the BBC’s plans for CBeebies and CBBC. The broadcasters suggested that children and young people were already well served by the market on non- terrestrial television. The non-terrestrial broadcasters argued that they already provided a wide range, across all genres, of high quality content for children and young people. It was suggested that the BBC’s new services would increase the costs of UK production for the non-terrestrial broadcasters forcing them to cut back on UK produced content and rely more heavily on imported programming and increase the levels of repeats to fill their schedules. The Government approved the new BBC services, CBeebies and CBBC, suggesting that they would increase the domestic programming available to children and young people and provide a wider range of genres than that which would be found in the market. Our research examines these arguments by comparing the schedules of the non-terrestrial broadcasters in 1997 and 2002.

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