Giving parents a break

Based on article from 'The Economist'

As children’s television booms, some parents see this as a relief while some see this as a growing worry.

This Christmas many television channels will hope to appeal to many parents to sell their packages. BSkyB, a leading satellite-TV company, aims to convince parents that the 21 channels devoted to children which is part of the package of 200 channels will “Broaden their minds”. But many parents are becoming increasingly concerned about the adverse effects that TV can have on their children resulting in attention-deficits and obesity.

Unlike adult programming, children’s TV generates three types of income which include advertising revenue and pay-television operators pay fees. However, children’s TV produces another form of income in the shape of merchandising. Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants”, which first started off as a TV show now has become a movie which has generated profits from the sale of a range of consumer products. Last year alone, Nickelodeon was able to bring in $3 billion from its consumer-products division. Watching its success closely, the BBC has revealed its intentions in launching new pay-TV channels for children.

Children’s TV channels have a greater advantage over the adult sort in many ways. Children are more easily captivated with animation and simple plots whereas grown-up TV has to vie with video games, mobile phones and modern technology. In today’s day and age in the developed world, children have a far greater access to money than ever before and parents have arguably become more lenient. This has resulted in increased demand of children’s TV and has made business more profitable for companies such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

Nevertheless, “age-compression” has become a major hurdle for the business where kids are growing up faster than they used to. Where once children aged six or seven would watch Sesame Street, only children aged three or four tend to watch it nowadays. But Disney, unlike Nickelodeon has tapped in to the whole family, ensuring that “you can empower kids without disempowering families” as Rich Ross, head of Disney Channel Worldwide says.

As more and more businesses tap into this profitable business, parents have become worried, especially those in America and Britain. Food adverts on TV have also been blamed for obesity, which has led the government to think about banning certain ads during certain times of the day.

Despite parents worrying about the effects of television on their children, at least it gives them a break from managing their kids!