In October 2007 Ofcom published The Future of Children's Television Programming, a discussion paper setting out our findings regarding the current state and future prospects for children's television programming.
The aim of our research was to create a firm foundation for debate by establishing comprehensive body of evidence around current delivery and future prospects for public service broadcasting to children in the UK.
We asked stakeholders for their views on a range of questions in relation to children's television and to public service broadcasting in general. We also sought views on a number of possible policy approaches suggested by stakeholders. The purpose of this statement is to summarise responses the discussion paper and to set out Ofcom's approach to considering the issues raised by our research going forward.
Most of the responses believed that children's television programming faced significant pressures. There was also a broad consensus among these that the need for intervention was required in the short term.
- There was general agreement on the importance of the continuing provision of high quality, UK-originated output for children of all ages, and almost without exception, respondents agreed that plurality in children's television programming was important.
- Consistent with the findings of Ofcom's research, stakeholders highlighted programming for older children and UK-originated drama and factual programming as areas of particular concern.
- Of the five policy approaches suggested by stakeholders, none was seen as an easy solution. All who responded on the policy approaches were agreed, however, that the status quo was not a viable option. Each of the remaining options received some degree of support, with many suggestions including a combination of approaches.
Since the start of our children's review in February 2007, Ofcom has begun work on its second Review of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB Review). Going forward, we propose to integrate our work on children's television with the wider and ongoing work of the PSB Review. Therefore this is the closing statement on The Future of Children's Television Programming.
