Children’s Broadcasting Chiefs Meet At Mip Junior To Discuss Challenges & Seek Alliances As BBC Kids Boss Patricia Hidalgo Backs Commercial Strategy

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Children’s TV bosses from all over the world met at Mip Junior last night to discuss major challenges and seek co-production alliances, as the BBC’s Patricia Hidalgo tells Deadline a commercial strategy is the best way to safeguard kids programing.

The group of around 20 people who run children’s public broadcasting channels from the likes of Australia, France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia talked about the immense challenges faced from wealthy competitors, according to BBC Children’s & Education Chief Hidalgo, as inflation pushes up costs and under-18s’ attention turns elsewhere. “These issues are impacting all public broadcasters globally,” former Turner Media EMEA kids chief Hidalgo told Deadline. “We are currently playing this game of being between two chairs with one foot on each, trying to keep audiences while moving them from the old linear way onto streaming platforms.” The meeting was also used to help forge co-pro alliances and Hidalgo presented shows that “may have this potential.” To prove her point, the BBC and Australia’s ABC unveiled The Spooky Files last week, a comedy horror co-pro from Emmy winners Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes. Return on investment Some in the UK children’s indie sector have raised concerns to Deadline that Hidalgo’s focus on formats that can travel in more commercially successful areas such as drama and animation will dilute BBC Children’s local content offering, but Hidalgo firmly rejected this notion. “A format idea that is very local can also travel,” she added. “I’m very conscious that we need to represent children here in the UK and it’s not me who makes that first scouting of content, that’s for our commissioners.