The Stage

ITV crops children’s airtime in pursuit of ratings with Pasquale

Published Tuesday 31 January 2006 at 15:15 by Liz Thomas

ITV is poised to cut back its children’s afternoon programming to free up room for entertainer Joe Pasquale’s new show and challenge Channel 4’s dominance of the daytime schedule.

The network is set to axe 30 minutes from its CiTV strand, which currently runs from 3.30pm to 5pm, placing a revamped version of The Price Is Right fronted by Pasquale in a 4.30pm slot at the heart of its late afternoon line up.

The network is struggling to attract viewers to its daytime programming and frequently loses in the ratings battle to BBC2’s The Weakest Link and Channel 4 hits such as Countdown, Richard and Judy and Deal or No Deal, presented by Noel Edmonds. The recent defection of Paul O’Grady to Channel 4 has also hit the network hard and insiders say that the updated version of The Price Is Right is scheduled for the spring, to coincide with the start of O’Grady’s new series for the rival broadcaster.

ITV has already moved the CiTV block forward from 3.15pm to 3.30pm and this latest change will mean that there will be just one hour of after-school programming on the terrestrial channel.

Industry expert Maggie Brown explained: “Nigel Pickard always pledged that, while he was director of programmes at the ITV Network, children’s television would remain in its hallowed teatime slot. I suspect a cutback is going ahead. The ratings are pretty devastating and ITV is competing against a rampant Channel 4 at that point in the afternoon.”

Last year, media regulator Ofcom agreed changes to the network’s public service commitments, allowing it to reduce the number of hours of kids’ shows from 11.5 to eight. This means that, despite the planned cuts in the afternoon, ITV is still meeting legal requirements. It is also launching a dedicated digital channel for youngsters in March.

Former television presenter and head of the National Campaign for Children’s Radio Susan Stranks said: “Children deserve an equitable amount of the airwaves. After all, television is a public domain and there for everyone. There may well be commercial motivations for such cutbacks but it is worth remembering that kids’ shows can also generate substantial revenue if people are imaginative and do not just slavishly follow adult markets.”

The news follows Five’s decision to expand its children’s strand Milkshake! with more original production and a 19 week stage show.

Meanwhile, Pasquale has made a number of pilots for ITV, including a primetime production for Saturday nights, but the network has yet to confirm if they will be made into full series.