Kids’ TV lobby calls for funding after food ad ban

Television lobby group Save Kids’ TV is calling on parents to support its campaign for government help in funding programming. It is launching an e-mail and viral campaign in a bid to target parents directly.

The campaign comes just weeks after Ofcom backed plans to restrict advertising around children’s programming, a move that is expected to lead to a reduction in TV made for viewers under the age of 16.

The body, which is supported by producers’ alliance PACT and chaired by Children’s Film and Television Foundation chief executive Anna Home, is urging parents, teachers and children to distribute campaign letters.

It says that although it accepts media regulator Ofcom’s moves to restrict “junk-food” advertising, the industry will lose around £40m a year in ad revenue, and needs to look at new funding models.

A message on the Save Kids’ TV website says/ “The more people we can bring into the campaign – especially parents – the greater the pressure we can bring on government.”

It adds: “Without new ways of funding kids’ TV, our children face an unhealthy diet of low-quality repeats and cheap foreign imports.”

• The Communications Workers’ Union has written to health secretary Patricia Hewitt urging the Government to overrule Ofcom and impose a 9pm watershed ban on junk-food advertising. Assistant secretary Simon Sapper says voters are in favour of a ban.