Children's programming triples in five years

According to latest research there are now more children's programmes on television than at anytime over the last 11 years and that the amount of programming for children has tripled since 1997.
Published by the Broadcasting Standards Commission and the Independent Television Commission the report also shows that the most balanced and diverse line-up of programming continues to be provided by the terrestrial television networks.
This included factual, drama, light entertainment and pre-school programming. The mainstay of children's programming on all channels is animation.
Andrea Millwood Hargrave, Director of the Joint Research Programme, BSC and ITC said: "This research, a continuation of work first undertaken by the BSC over six years ago, shows that despite the number and popularity of the newer, specialist channels, the range of programming available is not as diverse as it could be.
“The terrestrial free-to-air channels continue to provide the greatest balance of diverse content, especially of factual and drama output. Television remains one of the most important sources of leisure entertainment for children and, with 59% penetration of multi-channel television in homes with children, they have become more demanding of the quality of programmes on offer."
The results from ‘What Children Watch’, an analysis of children's programming provision between 1997 - 2001, and children's views on what they watch, showed that the increase in the amount of provision of children's programmes over the last five years is derived from the launch of Channel 5 (Five), and from the introduction of new dedicated satellite and cable channels.
Children in multichannel homes are now able to tune in to dedicated children's channels at any time of day.
The research period predated the introduction of the new CBBC and CBeebies channels, which has further increased the choice available.
There are differences in the range of genres offered to children between the services. The provision of drama on terrestrial television networks is more stable than some of the other genres, with little change across the period sampled.
The report found that on the dedicated channels showed a steep decline in drama, factual programming was almost absent, and that light entertainment formed a significant proportion of the share across all platforms.
The report found that children in multichannel homes watch significantly more television than their terrestrial-only counterparts (on average 35 minutes more per day).
Animation of all types accounted for over half the time children in multichannel homes spent viewing television. However, the amount of time they spend specifically viewing 'children's programmes' is comparable with those living in terrestrial-only homes.
(SP)