Home > Media and Analysts > Speeches and Presentations > 2007 > Nov > VLV Conference Speech

07|11|07

VLV's Annual Conference on Children and Television - 7 November 2007

I’d first like to say on behalf of Ofcom how delighted I am to be able to speak at the VLV’s second conference on Children’s Television this year.

Those of you who attended the last conference back in May will remember that we used the forum offered by the VLV to share some of the early findings from our review of children’s television.

We took this decision because we felt it was important that the debate on children’s television should be informed by sound and robust data, and we should place that data in the public domain as early as possible.

In my presentation, I shared some of the emerging statistics which showed a significant decline in investment in UK children’s programming among the public service broadcasters since 1998. I also presented some of our early findings which demonstrated that parents highly value high quality, UK-originated children’s programming.

Since the May conference, the debate has intensified, and we published our report, the Future of Children’s Television Programming on October 3.

This work has been one of Ofcom’s key priorities in 2007, and as Ed Richards explained at the Ofcom annual lecture three weeks ago, it is probably the most comprehensive and exhaustive survey of the UK children’s television market ever published. We hope it will create a much firmer foundation for debate on the issue going forward.

Over the next few minutes I’d like to do three things.

First, I’d like share some of the key findings of the report – I hope this might be useful for those of you who may not have had time to read it yet – it’s a 220 page research document with 5 annexes - although there is a 50-page version for those of you with less of a taste for statistics! After my presentation, Professor Messenger-Davies from the University of Ulster will also share some of the findings from her academic research.

Then I’d like to focus on some of the questions we are aiming to answer as part of our consultation process, which closes on 20 December.

Finally I’d like to clarify the process going forward, particularly with regard to Ofcom’s wider PSB review which launched in September.

Let’s first have a recap of the findings of our review. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to read it, you will find it on the Ofcom website. There are also copies available in the foyer to take home with you.

Ofcom launched the review of children’s programming in February of this year. In choosing to focus on this area of PSB we recognised the cultural importance of children’s television in our society set against a rapidly changing media environment which appeared to be placing traditional business models for producing and broadcasting children’s television under pressure.

The report assesses the current state of the children’s television market and the prospects for future delivery of a wide range of high quality and original content for children.

It raises issues in four key areas:

First, the views of parents and children.

• One of the key and enduring characteristics of PSB is that programmes are made in the UK. Parents and children clearly value programmes which reflect their lives and which are relevant to the environment they live in.
• However, fewer than half of parents think that the purposes and characteristics of public service broadcasting are currently being delivered satisfactorily in children’s programming. This is particularly the case when it comes to reflecting a range of cultures and opinions from around the UK.
• Having said this, parents are relatively content with provision for pre-school and younger children.
• However they feel that older children and teenagers are being less well provided for, particularly UK- produced drama and factual programmes which reflect the lives of these age groups.

Second, the importance of UK production

• Our evidence suggests that the future provision of new UK-originated programming for children, particularly drama and factual, looks increasingly uncertain other than the BBC’s output.
• Investment in first-run original programming by the commercial Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) – ITV1, GMTV, Channel 4 and Five – has halved in real terms since 1998.
• And while the commercial children’s channels (eg Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network) commission some UK programming, this represents just 10% of total UK investment in new programmes.
• In 2006, only 17% of children’s programmes were made in the UK, with only 1% first-run UK originations.
• And yet that 17% delivers some 38% of all viewing - demonstrating very clearly that where high quality original UK content is made, there is a real demand for it.

Third, the role of the BBC

• BBC spend has increased over the period, but its long term commitments to children’s programming, as set out in its service licences, are not sufficient to guarantee current levels of output and spend – recent events at the BBC show just how topical an issue this is.
• However, while the BBC’s programming is highly valued by parents, the decline in commercial programming provision also raises questions about whether it is in the audience’s long-term interest for the BBC to represent an ever larger proportion of UK commissions. The research tells us that parents value programming from a range of different voices.

Fourth, provision for older children and young teens.

• Children’s media consumption continues to change rapidly, with older children and especially young teenagers using the internet and mobile phones more than ever before and watching less television. Yet these groups appear to be less well served than ever, and there is no evidence that commercial provision of children’s public service content for these groups is a viable option now or in the near future.

These findings raise a number of questions which we set out when we published the review on October 3.

We are interested in whether stakeholders agree with our overall findings, especially as they relate specifically to older age groups and UK-produced drama and factual programming.

We are also interested in stakeholder views on the role and importance of UK originated programming for children in general, as set out in the PSB purposes and characteristics. You will be hearing a bit more about the academic findings relating to of a range of UK content from Professor Messenger Davies in a few minutes time.

We are particularly interested in the role and importance of plurality in relation to children’s PSB – whether provision should be left to the BBC or whether a range of providers are needed.

Finally, we are keen to get views on whether we should give further consideration to the provision of PSB content to older children over new media platforms.

In our report we also set out a number of potential policy approaches. These emerged from our programme of stakeholder interviews and debate during the course of our research, and can be broadly set out into five areas.

• First, maintaining the status quo – leaving provision to the BBC and commercial broadcasters. This set of options is likely to include some tightening of the BBC’s remit for children’s via its service licences.
• The second set of approaches covers a range of broadcaster-based interventions, including a new system of quotas and direct broadcaster funding. While there was little support for a return to quotas, some stakeholders suggested a range of direct funding options. One of these was a contestible fund made up of public money and available to all broadcasters except the BBC. Another idea was a levy on all broadcasters which could be used to fund investment in UK children’s programming. This suggestion was outlined by Jana Bennett at this year’s Showcomotion conference in July.
• The third set of approaches relates to production incentives, including tax credits. These have been widely used in other markets such as France, Australia and Canada as our work on international markets demonstrates. PACT, the producer’s association, has proposed a children’s content credit to incentivise UK drama and factual programming.
• The fourth set of approaches relates to extending the remit of existing public service broadcasters. Channel 4 was specifically mentioned by many stakeholders. Children’s does not currently feature within Channel 4’s remit, but arguments have been made that, as a publicly owned PSB, Channel 4 could play an important role in delivering programming to older children. At the recent RTS conference in Cambridge, in a discussion about the future direction of Channel 4, Andy Duncan indicated that they would be open to extending its programming remit downwards to children as young as 10.
• The fifth and final set of options mentioned by stakeholders was to focus on creating new institutions. One example is a new, publicly funded dedicated multimedia children’s service which has been proposed by Save Kids TV. Ofcom’s last PSB review also raised the concept of a Public Service Publisher – a new institution for delivering PSB in the digital age. In this scenario, this concept might be adapted to meet the needs of older age groups.

This is not an exhaustive list of options. As well as being particularly relevant to children’s programming, these are all approaches we are exploring in our second PSB review. We are therefore particularly interested in the feedback we receive in response to this consultation.

This brings me on to our PSB review.

We published the terms of reference for Ofcom’s second PSB review in September. The review was brought forward from its original start date of 2008-9, partly in response to the range of issues highlighted early on by our review of children’s television.

The PSB review sets out to ask two crucial questions: what does PSB need to deliver in the digital age, and how should this be delivered?

With our children’s TV report we’ve made a start in understanding some of the core issues raised by the PSB review. We have identified how well the terms of the Communications Act are currently being met. We have a good understanding of what parents and children expect from children’s television in a digital world, and we have made an assessment of the prognosis for the future. The focus now needs to be on how we deliver a range of high quality and original UK children’s programming in the future.

In doing this we have set out a clear timetable.

First, we would like to views from stakeholders on the broad policy approaches set out in the review and the additional questions relating to PSB as a whole. We have asked for submissions to be with us by 20 December.

We are hosting a seminar in conjunction with the Westminster Media Forum on the morning of 6th December, to hear stakeholder perspectives on these findings. The seminar is free, and open to all who are interested.

From there, we will publish a summary of stakeholder responses to our review in early in the New Year.

Then in March, we will put the issues raised by the children’s review in the context of PSB as a whole, including the potential policy options, with the aim of publishing firm proposals in the early autumn.

There are clearly some features of the children’s market that differentiate it from UK television as a whole, including the small size of the children’s audience, and limitations on broadcasters’ ability to monetise this audience, through advertising and other means.

However we believe that many of the key challenges being faced by children’s television are broadly the same as those being faced by PSB as a whole. These include the relatively high cost of provision of UK-originated programming, compared to programming acquired through global markets, the importance of plurality of broadcast providers of PSB programming and the range of relevant policy approaches available.

It is important to recognise that many of the issues raised by this review will be ultimately for the Government and the BBC Trust.

The Government has already announced that it will launching a review into the funding of PSB in 2008/09. Our work will feed into this.

It is clear that our review has raised a number of important challenges for the future of children’s television. These particular challenges will inform our work across PSB as a whole, as will our overriding aim of maintaining and strengthening the future provision of a wide range of high quality and original programming for UK children.

Thank You

Back to top