Oh, won’t someone think of the children? 

15 May 2007 tbs.pm/133

Ofcom finds ‘stark’ future for kids’ TV

Ofcom’s findings that children’s television has tripled in five years since 2002 is not that surprising, given the BBC launched two digital spin-off channels, and ITV launched CITV. However the story that the money being spent on this programming has dropped over the same time is more worrying.

But again it’s not that surprising given other recent events. ITV has shut down its children’s production unit whilst Five recently announced it was to end programmes for older kids.

Of course there’s plenty of digital channels for kids to watch – and that’s part of the problem. Most of the kids channels pump out little more than a diet of cartoons all day. Little programming is homegrown.

Now, lets be fair. Millions of people in the UK grew up with Sesame Street, and watching the Mysterious Cities of Gold or Defenders of the Earth didn’t do me any harm. However there was balance. I had Blue Peter, Grange Hill and the wonderful Tony Hart to keep me occupied too.

In all this, there remains the BBC, which hasn’t been cutting back. CBeebies in particular is held in very high regard – the programmes often selling around the world. But how sad that at the way things seem to be going, it will be the only one actually trying.