According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, Fox has acquired a major stake in BabyTV, a new international TV channel devoted to children ages 3 and under. A similar channel called Babyfirst is also being developed by a French cable group called CanalSat.
Both channels are commercial-free and are funded by private companies. The shows will be 2 to 7 minutes long to accommodate the short attention span of toddlers. Hopefully during their youth, these kids' parents will actually tear them away from this network and have them play outside once or twice.
This entire enterprise raises many questions. How will it make money? Is it going to be educational like PBS children's programs? Also, why have a 24/7 baby channel when babies usually sleep at night? Do we really want to make these children into TV slaves at such an early age?
I can just see the investors arranging to have subliminal messages of obedience placed into each program to raise the next generation into one of sheep to be led. Given that Fox is involved, almost certainly the secret messages will be politically conservative. Welcome to the future.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-10-2007 @ 1:20PM
Mandy said...
BabyFirstTV has been around for over a year on satellite dish. It's an additional $5 a month (at least on satellite dishes), so that's part of the way they make money.
I imagine the other way to make money is by product placement, selling licensed products, and/or just teaching kids from a very young age that television is the ultimate source of entertainment and information. That helps create older kids who are complacent as well as excellent consumers.
I don't subscribe to the channel so I don't know what the programs are like. I'm sure many of them are educational, but there's a reason the American Academy of Pediatrics say that kids under two shouldn't watch television. Trade-offs for having a few educational programs for infants might include creating kids who will never be happy in a classroom situation because teachers aren't as flashy as television; limiting the desire to create imaginative play and read; and making it harder for kids to develop relationships with real people.
It is up to each individual how they want to raise children, and I am certainly no expert. But personally, I would rather see a kid's face light up when a favorite book is brought out or when a family member engages them in play rather than when they hear Dora's voice out of a box in the living room.
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10-10-2007 @ 3:54PM
Jeremy said...
Do you think this scares the people who are behind baby tv?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,222481,00.html
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