Spanish TV airs children's shows past their bedtime, says viewers' association
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Version 0 of 1. Spanish television networks are keeping children up past their bedtime by regularly airing their favourite shows late into the night, according to the association that represents television viewers in Spain. Incensed by the 10pm start times of children's TV shows such as La Voz Kids (The Voice Kids) and MasterChef Junior, Asociación de Usuarios de la Comunicación is demanding that broadcasters move children's programming to more child-friendly hours. The past five years have seen children's shows air progressively later, said Alejandro Perales, the group's president. Even children's channels now start films around 9:30pm, he added, leaving children routinely sacrificing sleep to watch their favourite programs. "Then they wake up late the next morning, they don't eat breakfast, they arrive late at school," Perales said. Recent TV ratings show that nearly 600,000 Spanish children aged four to 12 are still watching TV after 10pm on any given weeknight. Perales pointed to the children's version of the Spanish spinoff of The Voice, which aired its final episode last week. "When the show finished around 1:30 in the morning, there were still 130,000 kids sitting in front of their TVs," said Perales. The Spanish workday was partly to blame, he said, as most Spanish people don't finish work before 7pm or 8pm, pushing dinner and TV viewing to much later in the evening. "The schedules in Spain are a bit strange compared to other countries," Perales said. . For months, his group has been encouraging parents to curb their children's late-night television habits. "But many parents complained to us that this just generated family conflict." Kids would fight to watch their favourite shows, calling it "social suicide" to show up at school the next day without have seen the latest episode. The association has now shifted its focus to Spanish television networks, pressuring them to agree to air children's programmes earlier. Perales said that without government backing the chances of change are slim. Late-night children's shows help broadcasters boost their ratings and, in turn, their bottom line, he said. "They're taking advantage of family programming to get children to tune in, knowing that they will likely bring their parents too." Perales' efforts are part of a larger campaign, being waged by the Association for the Rationalisation of Spanish Working Hours, to push TV networks to move prime-time to an earlier hour. According to those behind the campaign, 90% of Spain's top-rated television programmes finish later than 11:30pm and more than half finish after midnight. The consequences, said Ignacio Buqueras, president of the group, is that Spanish people sleep 53 minutes less than the European average. In a note urging people to support the campaign, he added: "We're in a country beset by crisis, which requires everyone to put in a little extra effort to maintain high levels of commitment and work efficiency." |