iPlay – an Ambitious Future for Kids Content?
CMF Chair Anna Home attended BBC Director General, Tony Hall's Charter Review presentation at the Science Museum on 7th September.
This was the first of four statements Tony Hall is making about the future of the BBC in the next charter period. It was primarily an overview of the new 'vision'. Other announcements will cover funding and governance, and one will be more specific about the future of the children's services.
However the main proposal on children’s content is contained in the document published after the event on 7th Sept - British Bold Creative.
Briefly, it describes the creation of a new online service for children and adolescents iPlay. This personalised VOD service will be complementary to the two existing channels, will have new funding, and will include content from 'trusted sources' outside the BBC as well as child relevant content from other BBC services.
CMF welcomes this in principle. But we need to know more detail before we can endorse it completely. We need to be clear that this will be in addition to the existing channels, not instead of them, and that the proposed new funding will be adequate to create significant original new UK-centric narrative, long-form content - otherwise the service is offering nothing distinctive or of public service value, and it will fail to make an impact.
British Bold Creative – the Future of Children’s Content on the BBC Staring into the Abyss: Where Will Children’s TV be in 10 Years’ Time?