July 4, 2006

ARTICLES: Kids' programming has outgrown TV

Kids' programming has outgrown TV

THE SEATTLE TIMES

As boomer experts continue to debate the effects of watching television, many preschoolers yawned and moved on: Linear TV is so last millennium.

Instead, tots can watch Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! cartoon podcasts on an iPod, check out streaming video of Blue's Clues on the computer, view clips of Playhouse Disney on a cell phone or insist on Barney and Friends at any hour from video on demand.

Remember when having cable TV was cool? Now, kids as young as 2 interact "across platforms" in this new era of a "changing digital children's media landscape."

"Children are platform agnostic," said Alice Cahn, vice president of development for the Cartoon Network. "If you want to look foolish with a preschooler, say, 'Sorry, you can't watch that. It's not on.' It's TiVo'd, it's online, it's on video on demand. 'Appointment viewing' is not part of their lexicon and never will be. There's not a sense that television has any primacy with them."

Kids will follow beloved characters "all around the multiplatform world," said Pete Danielsen, senior vice president for production and programming at Nickelodeon, which targets kids on 15 platforms. "Watching TV on small screens is just normal to them. It's portable, and it's fun."

Many younger parents who grew up with TV and computers are enthusiastic media consumers. "Parents go into new platforms and bring their children right in with them," Danielsen said.

FULL ARTICLE AT http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/living/health/14892241.htm

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Chris Schuepp
Young People's Media Network - Coordinator
 
Youth Media Consulting GbR
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