BECTU welcomes Ofcom report

BECTU has welcomed Ofcom's critical report on children's television in the UK.

"Ofcom's report just confirms what most people in the industry have been saying for a while now: children's TV is a real cause for concern and we need intervention before it's too late" said BECTU's National Official Nigel Mason.

His comments were made in response to the publication today of industry watchdog Ofcom's report The Future of Children's Television Programming.

The report found that 17% of children's programmes were UK produced, but only 1% of that output was new.

In addition, repeats have risen from 40% in 1998 to 86% on the public service broadcast channels. Special concern was voiced by parents over the lack of UK produced children's drama, which is a direct consequence of the reduction in public service broadcasting spend on the genre.

Mason continued: "BECTU welcomes the fact that Ofcom is recognising there's a problem with the future of children's TV in the UK.

"However, we are worried that the possible solutions put out for consultation are likely to require changes in legislation and therefore take time to come to fruition.

"In the meantime, we are seriously concerned that many of the producers of original UK children's TV programmes will have disappeared before these changes come about".

BECTU has joined forces with industry organisations such as Equity, PACT, The Writers Guild and Action for Children's Arts to voice its concerns. The 11-strong Children's TV Campaign Alliance aims to highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy children's programming service, and one that reflects the lives of children living in Britain today.

The next stage of the Ofcom consultation will be in the spring. A number of solutions have been put forward by the watchdog and BECTU will be responding to these before the 20 December deadline.