October 3rd saw the launch of the Ofcom report which resoundingly revealed the crisis facing UK kids’ TV and supported many of the claims made by Save Kids’ TV and its campaign partners over the last 12 months. The report concluded by launching a public consultation on five possible futures for children’s media in the UK which will conclude on the 20th December. By March 2008 Ofcom will report on their analysis and recommend a way forward. But there is no guarantee that the Government will act – especially as support for the industry inevitably needs some element of funding.
With that in mind the Campaign has launched an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website which enables people to follow the tradition of petitioning Government, but in a new and immediate way. Since November 2006 thousands of individual petitions have been lodged there and millions of signatures collected.
The Kids’ TV petition states:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that UK children have access to a wider range of high quality, UK-made public service kids’ television programmes that reflect the rich diversity of UK culture.”
It goes on to outline the issues:
“UK parents place a high value on the role that children’s television plays in society, and believe that it is particularly important that public service broadcasting for kids reflects their own lives and cultures, and helps them learn more about the world around them. But new programming made in the UK accounts for just 1% of the total hours of kids TV on offer to UK audiences. The situation is rapidly getting worse: ITV and Channel 4 have pulled out of commissioning new UK kids’ shows, and Channel Five has cut back the range of programming it offers, having axed shows for older kids. Outside the BBC, these have traditionally been the main channels offering UK programmes for UK kids. There are more kids channels than before due to the growth of cable and satellite services, but they are unable to plug the gap left by the main channels such as ITV and Channel 4. The BBC remains, but parents do not want their children to grow up in a world where they only have one perspective – the BBC’s. We ask the Government to act now to ensure that parents and children are able to benefit from a rich variety of UK kids’ shows with different voices and views.”
We need thousand of signatures to make our voices heard. So please sign up today, and try to encourage as many others to do the same. Save Kids’ TV has provided an email text to make this easier.
