Abstract
This chapter focuses on the provision of public service content and services for children in the context of debates around the BBC and Charter Review, which took place between July 2015 and May 2016. In doing so, it conceives children’s television as a microcosm of many PSB challenges relating to competition, funding, commercialization and changing modes of consumption in a rapidly changing media landscape. The chapter brings into stark relief the fact that PSB needs to connect much more effectively with future audiences, specifically young people and children, whose engagement with public service television is becoming weaker as more of their time is taken up with online, participatory and mobile media.
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Notes
- 1.
This is a revised version of a submission from January 2016 to ‘A Future for Public Service Television: Content and Platforms in a Digital World’, an Inquiry chaired by Lord Puttnam. The findings of the Inquiry were published in June 2016 and can be found here, http://futureoftv.org.uk/report/.
- 2.
UK children’s consumption of television on a TV set (for those aged 8–11) increased from 13.2 h to 14.8 h a week between 2005 and 2015. However, time spent online increased during the same period from 4.4 h to 11.1 h (including watching AV material). 12–15 year-olds also increased their viewing time on a TV set from 14.7 to 15.5 h between 2005 and 2015, but their time online increased from 8 h to 18.9 h a week during the same period.
- 3.
For a summary of a panel debate with representatives from independent production companies, Animation UK, PACT, the BBC and advocacy groups, the VLV and Children’s Media Foundation see Whitaker (2015).
- 4.
Even PSBs have repeats in excess of 90% (see Ofcom 2015b, p. 20).
- 5.
Most of this decline, which relates to expenditure on output made for television is attributable to the BBC, responsible for 71 h of the 92 h decline in 2015, but some of the BBC’s budget may have gone to the production of online content.
- 6.
Research about children’s shifting viewing is incomplete, but Ofcom’s small-scale Digital Day research in 2014, did show that TV viewing still occupies up to 3 h of children’s time a day, but watching of live TV has fallen to 52% for 11–15-year-olds and to 64% for 6–11-year-olds. Other viewing took place as time-shifting, as catch-up TV (e.g. the iPlayer), as streaming or downloads (e.g. Netflix), on DVD, or as short online video clips. Short online video clips accounted for 19% of 12–15 year olds’ viewing. At this point watching of streamed or downloaded TV (Netflix, Amazon) only accounted for 5–6% of watching activities (Ofcom 2014d, p. 46).
- 7.
Interestingly this is an option under proposals to reform the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive, where national policy-makers can impose a 20% European quota on video-on-demand services like Netflix, as well as investment quotas, but if the UK leaves the European Union, this would not be applicable (see European Commission 2016).
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Steemers, J. (2018). United Kingdom: The Politics of Children’s Television in the Context of BBC Charter Renewal. In: Herzog, C., Hilker, H., Novy, L., Torun, O. (eds) Transparency and Funding of Public Service Media – Die deutsche Debatte im internationalen Kontext. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17997-7_6
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