The Sunday Telegraph survey polled more than 2,000 children and found that just under half of eight- to 14-year-olds watch a minimum of four hours of television daily.
These latest figures come just weeks after New Zealand health experts revealed that children who watch more than two hours of television a day run a greater risk of ill-health and obesity.
The Sunday Telegraph's study also found that more than three quarters of children now have a television in their bedroom and are watching high levels of post-watershed television.
The survey found that 87% of all children and 78% of primary-age children had watched television beyond the 9pm watershed. It also found that 76% of primary-age children had watched television even later, beyond 11pm.
The top three programmes for those surveyed were: 'EastEnders'; 'The Simpsons'; and 'Big Brother', which contains nudity and swearing. Channel 4's 'Bo Selecta!' comedy series, which contains high levels of swearing and sexual content, was named as the eighth most popular programme.
Fears about the health risk of watching too much television have prompted one children's station, Nickelodeon, to black out programming in an effort to get young viewers to leave their sofas and take up outdoor activities.
Nickelodeon will halt programming for three hours as part of a special healthy living event on October 2.
This latest survey echoes communications super-regulator Ofcom's own findings that most children watch a wide variety of programming outside of regular children's slots. This has prompted Ofcom to reject calls to ban junk food advertising during these times, saying the move would be ineffectual.
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