A TV channel for children

 
Published: Thursday 15 June 2006

Baby TV: Not sunny or rosy at< Infants The US

If this channel has its way, toddlers could well become couch potatoes. The us's first round-the-clock channel for infants, Baby tv First opened on May 18, 2006 amidst opposition from childcare advocates. It will initially be beamed down via satellite for us $9.99, a month. "The fact of life is that babies are already watching tv," Sharon Rechter, the channel's spokesperson said. "That's why Baby tv is so important. We will offer completely safe, commercial-free content," she said .

A 2003 study by the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation found that 68 per cent children under two in the us watch tv or videos daily. Nonetheless, the us P ediatrics Academy has come out against the channel. Seattle area pediatrician Donald Shifrin, chairman of the us Academy of Pediatric's committee that studies television and children said, "We're not a nation's nanny, but we don't want tv the default entertainer for children," he said. "Baby tv asserts that its products are for interactive viewing by babies and their parents, but experience tells us parents might use it to park their kids in front of the tv," said Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital, Boston.

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.