Pickard calls for longer kids commissions

RDF kids series Big Barn Farm

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Showcomotion: Nigel Pickard, director of family entertainment at RDF, has called on broadcasters to guarantee the longevity of series in order to help indies attract licensing deals.

Pickard, who is a former BBC controller of children's TV, said broadcasters should recommission successful programmes in batches of two or three series so that indies can guarantee a level of longevity for publishers and other licensing partners.

He also called for contracts to guarantee key scheduling slots for series which attract a certain number of viewers. Speaking in a Showcomotion session on co-production funding, he said: "If you're trying to get auxiliary companies like publishers to license rights, they all need to know that there is longevity in the programme – provided it performs.

"We have to look at longer term deals. They will have to have at least three to five years of life."

Michael Carrington, controller of CBeebies, told Broadcastnow that there is a need to look at its contracts so it can help indies attract new funding. "We should be much more flexible," he said.

In an earlier session, Pickard also called on the industry to come up with bold new solutions to the crisis in kids TV – saying that Pact's proposals for tax credits are not enough on their own. "It's too easy a way out and it doesn't solve some of the issues we're looking at.

"Pact has done a fantastic job of putting the issues on the table but [tax credits would bring] a paltry sum."