The Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) has called for a radical overhaul of regulations governing the broadcast of television programs for Australian children, including the establishment of a dedicated free-to-air children’s channel.
In its submission to the Children’s Television Standards Review currently being undertaken by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the ACTF says that television produced especially for Australian children is not watched by enough of them because of poor scheduling and promotion by commercial broadcasters.
The ACTF argues that while the Standards do guarantee that children’s programs are being made in Australia, the regulation is ultimately unsuccessful because programs are reaching far too few Australian children.
‘The media and social landscapes have changed since these Children’s Television Standards (CTS) were put in place. Children are using media in different ways and at different times than they were 15 years ago,’ says Jenny Buckland, Chief Executive of the ACTF.
‘The commercial broadcasters, to which the regulation applies, are either unable or unwilling to schedule and promote the programs such that they connect with the child audience. Children’s shows created under the CTS are predominantly screened at times when children aren’t watching commercial television. Promotion of local children’s shows is almost non-existent.’
The ACTF submission points out that Australian programs for school-age children are typically screened on the commercial broadcasters at 4pm on weekdays; a time when many children are still on their way home from school, in after school care, playing or engaged in healthy after school activities such as sport.
Children now watch more television in the evening than any other part of the day. The number of 5-12 year olds watching television from 7-8pm is almost twice that watching between 4-5pm.
Commercial broadcasters are also doing little to attract children to the 4pm timeslot.
‘The failure of the programs to reach the audience means that both public and private funds used in creating the programs are being squandered,’ Ms Buckland said.
The ACTF submission argues that a more effective programming structure would be the creation of ‘block’ programming, creating a program ‘destination’ for children, most likely to be programmed on a weekend, along with the requirement to broadcast at least one children’s program between 7pm and 9pm on any day of the week.
‘It makes commercial sense for the broadcaster to move programs to a time when the child audience is a significant part of the entire television audience,’ Ms Buckland says.
The ACTF submission further proposes:
That ACMA impose minimum levels of on-air promotion for children’s programs and look at ways to encourage cross media promotions, especially internet and children’s publications.
Advertisements should be assessed against children’s criteria as a matter of course so that those appropriate can receive a C classification and therefore be run during children’s programming. Currently, the advertising rules effectively restrict the ability for the broadcasters to generate revenue.
The establishment of a dedicated public broadcaster children’s television channel, screening a minimum of 50% Australian children’s content from 6am to 9pm.
‘Rather than piecemeal reform of the CTS, the long term solution requires an holistic, multiplatform approach to deliver content to the Australian child audience, of which a children’s channel is a critical element. This new channel would have a diverse slate of programming including, news, educational programming and material that is created by children alongside entertaining children’s drama and non-drama programs. Children will be able to watch Australian programs at a time convenient to them and their families,’ Ms Buckland said.
The ACTF proposal is for one ABC digital channel to be dedicated to children’s programming.
‘Until now, there has been no regular, consistent broadcast platform that gives children ready access to Australian stories. The trend around the world has been for children to turn to dedicated children’s channels and, until now, this has meant that Australian children have largely been watching television programs and films created by large international entertainment companies,’ Ms Buckland said.
The channel would screen both newly created programs and selections from the rich catalogue of programs created over the past 25 years as a result of the Australian Content Standard and Children’s Television Standards.
[release from TM Publicity for the ACTF]