Netflix and YouTube should pay a levy from their profits to create a £100m fund for UK children’s programming, leading presenters said, amid warnings that kids’ TV is facing a crisis.
Former Blue Peter stars Anthea Turner and Konnie Huq led calls for the Government to intervene as the lure of streaming and video-sharing platforms forces traditional broadcasters to abandon children’s programming.
The dominance of YouTube – now the first choice TV destination for Generation Alpha, according to Ofcom – is leaving children at the mercy of “age-inappropriate content and generic or US-focused content, rather than content focused on the needs of a UK audience,” the Children’s Media Foundation (CMF) said.
It is owned by DCMS, but was initially funded by a tax on ITV’s revenue. Since 1993 it has been funded entirely by advertising. Certain low-wattage Tory culture secretaries didn’t know this when they tried to privatise it a couple of years ago.