Junk food ban to blame for kids' TV crisis, says Stott

by Emma Barnett, Media Week 13-Nov-07

Five's head of regulatory affairs, Martin Stott, has blamed communications regulator Ofcom for the crisis in children's' television, arguing that its junk food ad ban is the key factor behind the slump.

UK broadcasters' investments in kids' TV have fallen sharply in recent
years, with Ofcom revealing last month that spend on first-run UK -
originated programming by UK broadcasters fell from £127m in 1998,

to £109m in 2006.

Speaking at a Voice of the Listener & Viewer conference last week, Stott
said government pressure for a ban on junk food advertising during kids'
TV shows had forced advertisers to pull spend away from these shows.

"The reason there is less children's TV is because there was already
pressure to introduce restrictions from the Government and health bodies
in 2003, so it was clear that it was coming three years before it (the
junk food ad ban) was formally announced. Food advertisers were aware of
this and were refocusing."

But Ofcom hit back, arguing that the decline in levels of kids' TV on
air pre-dated last year's junk food ad ban. James Thickett, project
director for Ofcom's Review of Children's Programming, said there was a
range of structural issues affecting children's television. He added
that the junk food ad ban had only led to a loss of about 5% of ad
revenue on dedicated children's channels.

He said: "The decline in investments (in children's TV) by the public
service broadcasters began in 2001 and has been declining every single
year since."