Baby TV Bad for Babies

Michael Hedges August 19, 2008

Acting on warnings from French Ministers of Health and Culture regulator Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) is issuing rules for TV channels and programs targeting children under three years of age. The directive was announced after a consultation with experts (August 14). In June Culture Minister Christine Albanel told ”...parents not to use these channels. They bombard children with images and sounds. We do not know what effects this may have on such young people."

From November 1st  no television channel shall “distribute or promote…programs specifically aimed at children under three years,” said the CSA’s July 22nd deliberation document. But in a statement to AFP last week (August 14th) the CSA clarified that it was not prohibiting the channels from broadcasting “but these programs should not be broadcast… as specifically targeted at three year olds.”  Compulsory warnings will appear on screen and in all cable and satellite company marketing materials, including customer contracts, will read: “…watching television, including channels presented as specifically designed for children less than three years may result from lasting developmental disorders such as passivity, language delays, agitation, sleep disorders, the concentration and dependence on screens….”

None of this affects two channels the regulations would seem to target – BabyFirst and Baby TV. They are broadcast from the UK, outside French jurisdiction. The French website for BabyFirst clearly states that the channel is for parents of little ones. Baby TV is presented as a kids channel.

Kids channel Gulli – a co-production of Lagardere and France Télévisions – earned a 1.8% audience share in July. Yes, school’s still out. Gulli (or known as Cyberbot) is pitched as “family edutainment” and clearly targets young children.

Minister Albanel issued a ”cry of alarm”  to parents in late June, just as the school summer holidays got into full swing. “I want to tell parents not to use these channels,” she repeated in a series of media interviews. “We cannot prohibit them,” she said, specifically referring the Baby TV and BabyFirst channels, because “they are not terrorists channels or pornographic.”

Behavioral research on the effects of television on young children is a relatively new and growing. An American study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Child Development (July 2008), observed children at play for an hour, 30 minutes with a TV set in the room tuned to a game show and 30 minutes off. When the TV was on the kids – aged one to three years - couldn’t concentrate. “Parents should limit their young children's exposure to background television,” the researchers concluded.

An earlier study, published in Pediatrics (April 2004) showed that exposure to television by children under two years of age could be linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by age 7. More recently a Harvard Medical School study (April 2008) connected TV exposure among children under two years and inadequate sleep “synergistically” to childhood obesity.

But, those kiddie TV channels aren’t terrorists.

See also from ftm Knowledge

Children, Television and Advertising - Many rules, more debates, few results

Television for children is threatened. Advertising to children discouraged. And young people move to new media. As broadcasters retreat, advertisers move to the internet. Will Web rules follow? This ftm Knowledge file details the debate and consequences. 69 pages PDF (March 2008)
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