Pact lobbies MPs in kids campaign

Pact has stepped up its campaign to save kids TV after pressing MPs to launch an urgent review into funding for children's programming.

Pact has stepped up its campaign to save kids TV after pressing MPs to launch an urgent review into funding for children's programming.

Pact chief executive John McVay gave evidence supporting the cultural and educational impact of home-grown kids programming to a cross-party media select committee in Parliament this week.

McVay presented MPs with the findings of a YouGov poll commissioned by Pact to find out what parents think about the TV their children watch.

The poll found that 66% of parents believe original children's programming provides families with shared cultural experiences and 73% agree that it encourages children to read and play imaginatively.

McVay warned MPs that children's television was facing a crisis as the BBC could be left as the only provider of UK children's programming within five years.

He said that broadcasters should be required to produce children's programmes or create a central fund, spread across several platforms, that would plug the gap left by ITV's withdrawal from the market and Ofcom's decision to restrict junk food advertising.

'We just want to start the debate. As a society, do we want original children's programming? If society says we don't care, then fine, but we think people do care,' he said.

McVay also warned that Ofcom's ban on junk food ads during children's programmes could lead other broadcasters to exit the market.

Mike Watts, managing director of Novel Entertainment and chair of Pact's children's and animation policy group, added: 'Investment in new UK children's programming is close to collapse, with dire consequences for the future of the sector.'

The select committee will submit its recommendations to media secretary Tessa Jowell.