French TV banned from targeting under-3s
FRANCE'S broadcast authority banned French channels from marketing TV shows to children under the age of three on Wednesday, warning that "television viewing hurts the development" of toddlers.
The ruling also ordered foreign baby channels - such as Baby TV, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and BabyFirstTV, which has ties to News Corp's Fox Entertainment - to broadcast a regular warning message.
It will read: "Watching television can slow the development of children under three, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them."
BabyFirstTV and Baby TV dedicate 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming.
The High Audiovisual Council ruling cited health experts who point out that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development.
"Television viewing hurts the development of children under three years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, overexcitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens," it warned.
French Minister for Culture and Communication Christine Albanel issued an alarm call to parents in June about BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.
In a newspaper interview, she called them "a danger" and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.
The council's ruling aims to prevent the development of such programming on French channels by preventing them from marketing content as suitable for under-threes.
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