Our single most important message is that children deserve the best television and unless we act now they are simply not going to get it. We need you to pass that message on to as many people as possible and to help we’ve put a new download on the SKTV site under the ‘Action‘ section. It’s a letter/email you can pass on to all your friends, work colleagues, and anyone else who knows you. In fact you can even pass it on to people who don’t know you because it’s not very demanding, all we are asking is for people to go to the SKTV site and sign up as a supporter. The more people we can bring into the campaign - especially parents - the greater the pressure we can bring on Government.We need politicians to get the message there is a real crisis in children’s television and that if we do not act now it will be too late, and they will only get that message when the general public show a greater interest.
The campaign is continuing with it’s political lobbying and we now have a workable Press and PR strategy in place (see below), but to make those strategies work effectively we need as much public support as we can get.
THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO! Ok, apologies for shouting but we really do need to get more people signed up who are outside the kids tv industry. I know many Producers are also parents but the fact is we never intended for the SKTV campaign to be an industry campaign, it should be, as it says on the banner, a coalition of parents, educationalists, artists and producers. If everyone can send the message on to a least twenty new supporters we have the start of a viral campaign. Thank you.
ITV Still Determined To Cut Children’s Hours
Media Industry weekly, Broadcast Magazine have reported that ITV is planning a return to the regultor, Ofcom, with a request to cut its children’s hours from the current 8 hours per week to 5 hours. This would allow CITV to run a one-hour per day schedule on ITV1 on weekdays at the very most. The article suggests that even if rejected the Broadcaster will only schedue one hour per day maximum and make up the remainder at weekends and during holidays.
Broadcast goes on to state: ITV denied it was planning to cut back to five hours a week, but would not comment on the changes it is discussing with Ofcom. But a source close to the process said:
“Ofcom only turned ITV down on the basis that eight to two hours was a significant change. If they had asked for five hours in the first place instead of two it could have been accepted.”
While the proposed reductions in hours are still a threat to kids’ content, the real problem is that ITV has stopped spending on children’s programming, having commissioned nothing since December 2005. Michael Grade’s appointment may indicate a rethink of ITV’s strategy but so far he has made it clear he supports his programme executive team. Ofcom say that they don’t have the power to force ITV to spend on kids - or indeed to schedule their regulated hours at times reasonable for children to watch. All the more reason for people who care about their kids’ viewing to spread the word that a campaign is under way to ensure that British kids stop getting short changed by regulators, politicians and all of those who say “they never had it so good” - and continue to have access to a wide variety of great children’s TV made here in the UK.
Positions Vacant
We’re looking for two volunteers, someone to take over Editing this newsletter and someone to take an active role in contacting parenting groups to help get our message out to the public. If anyone is in a position to give us some time could you contact Greg Childs at greg@childseye.tv. Thank you.
Press and PR Campaign
SKTV has been offered free advice and support by PR and design professionals. Which is a relief for all of the enthusiastic amateurs who were plugging the gap!
Matt Owen of Lansons Communications has developed a realistic Press and PR strategy for the campaign which focuses initially on setting up individual meetings with journalists. We’ve had to recognise that before any big launch for the campaign we must establish the credibility of the aims and objectives of SKTV. The best way to achieve that is through informal, face-to-face meetings with journalists. A list of contacts is currently being compiled and we hope to see increased media coverage in the New Year as a result of those meetings.
We have also had an offer of help from the creative brand management company Red Central. Steve Pearce is co-ordinating work on a new logo for SKTV and is also going to see if they can help with a new website design and a viral campaign.
And finally, Kate Steele of Manning Selvage & Lee has also offered advice on our long term strategic PR thinking and has helped us to produce a message grid capturing the key campaign messages for our main stakeholder groups.
SKTV in Action
Over the last few weeks Save Kids’ TV has been making representations to key organisations which will influence the future of children’s media in the UK.
At the Voice of the Listener and Viewer annual conference on children’s television on the 2nd November, Tony Robinson gave an impassioned and well-reasoned keynote on why saving children’s TV was important, not just for the industry, but for the future well-being of Britain’s kids. This speech, briefed by SKTV, set the tone for the whole event which was attended by a wide audience from parents through to representatives of the Regulator. At the Conference Ofcom Partner for Content & Standards, Tim Suter was left in no doubt about our concerns over ITV’s plans to cut their hours and that “light touch” regulation would fail the kids’ audience in the long term.
The next major event which could influence public policy is the Westminster Media Forum on the 6th December. This brings together activists, politicians and policy-makers for an exchange of views. Anna Home will represent Save Kids’ TV on the panel: Why Does Children’s TV Matter? The event is expensive for non-speakers but we’d encourage anyone who can afford it (or whose organisations can) to get along to support the Save Kids’ TV position.
The SKTV Policy Working Group has been putting in vital groundwork so that our case will be heard. A meeting has been arranged with the Ofcom officials who are considering the future of the PSP. This is a proposal to create a new Public Service Publisher which would allocate funding for programme-making in areas where there might be market failure. The PSP could be one method of financing some children’s programmes in the future. SKTV has now formally applied to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport to be one of the groups to give oral evidence in the enquiry into Public Service Broadcasting. The Policy Group is building our body of evidence in advance of the January deadline. SKTV is also sponsoring research to pull together a body of academic work from a variety of sources which support the value of children’s television in children’s lives and development. This work is being undertaken in partnership with the University of Westminster.
In an unusual move which stresses SKTV’s willingness to consider all positions in this debate, we have made contact with the anti-junk-food lobbying organisation, Sustain, and are arranging a meeting to explore our relative positions. Meanwhile another opportunity to discuss the issues is being pursued at Ministerial level. At the recent BAFTA Children’s Awards, DCMS Minister, Shaun Woodward, was left in no doubt as to the worries of the industry as speaker after speaker referenced the disastrous climate and our campaign to rescue quality kids’ content. SKTV Chair, Anna Home discussed the problems with him and has since requested a meeting.
Watch this space for further developments as the campaign gathers momentum.
The BAFTA Children’s Awards
There was huge support for the Save Kids’ TV campaign at BAFTA last Sunday with a wide range of people, from producers to presenters, expressining dismay at the events that have lead to the current funding crisis. Many people wondered whether there would be a BAFTA Kids’ Awards ceremony in the future if the only organisation left making a substantial number of shows in the UK were the BBC. The event demonstrated what a vibrant and committed group of people currently make content for children, how passionately everyone feels about creating material that excites the imagination of young viewers and what a loss it would be both to the industry and to the wider cultural life of UK children if it were to disappear.
