A View from the House

March 23, 2016 , 0

Baroness Benjamin, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Children's Media and the Arts, attended the Round Table with John Whittingdale.

Baroness Benjamin sees real progress in recognising the need to commission more content for children...

"I was delighted to support the industry and audience groups at the meeting with the Secretary of State. The meeting showed that fortunately there has been real progress in recognising there simply isn’t enough content being commissioned which talks to British kids in their own, diverse voices - especially older children.

Therefore action is needed now to ensure all PSB broadcasters, especially Channel 4, honour their responsibilities to our nation’s children, focusing mainly on the 10+ audience, as we urgently need to address this existing market failure. We are beginning to lose ground internationally as more and more countries enter the marketplace. Without the right investment the kids’ media industry in the UK cannot continue to serve this vitally important audience with the range and quality of content it deserves, as well as at the same time contributing substantially to the UK economy"

Regulation and Research Meeting the Minister