French Struggle To Wrest Remote From Nation's Babies

The French government has banned French channels from airing of television shows targeting children under the age of three.

The move was spurred by the introduction in France of two 24-hour infant television channels, Baby TV and BabyFirstTV. Both are owned in whole or in part by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp. The Associated Press reports:

The High Audiovisual Council, in a ruling published Wednesday, said it wanted to "protect children under 3 from the effects of television." ....

"Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens," the ruling said. [Link]

Of course, both of these channels are foreign, so they are still permitted to air their programming; it's only the French themselves who will be barred from developing and distributing such content. Baby TV and BabyFirstTV will both be required to air the following warning at the beginning of shows:

Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them.

Of course, the dispute is simply another chapter in the difficult relations between England and France. Recall, if you will, a time before EU regulations took the teeth out of cross-Channel diplomacy...