EXCLUSIVE: The biggest players in UK children’s TV are being asked to attend a summit early next year to try and resolve grave funding issues amidst existential questions over the genre’s future.
The Children’s Media Foundation (CMF) has been preparing the summit for months including via a series of consultative meetings with all the major broadcasters, producer groups and lobbyists from August to October.
The likes of Netflix and YouTube, which have been hugely influential in shaping the modern children’s TV sector, will also be invited to attend.
Organizers are concerned about the outsized impact these global behemoths are having on the local children’s TV sector. Local children’s TV in the UK is in hot water, according to CMF boss and summit organizer Greg Childs, due to stiff competition, the difficulties in attracting young audiences to broadcast TV, a sharp rise in production costs and a lack of commercial opportunity to sell shows around the world.
Read more on deadline.com