The increase in children's programming follows the introduction of terrestrial channel Five, which launched in 1997, coupled with an ever-growing number of dedicated digital and cable channels for children.
However, despite the increase in children's channels on cable and satellite, the range of programming is more diverse on terrestrial TV, according to 'What Children Watch', a report commissioned by the Broadcasting Standards Council and the ITC.
Cable and digital channels covered provided more pre-school programming such as 'Tweenies', 'Teletubbies' and 'Sesame Street', while terrestrial channels show more factual shows such as 'Art Attack', 'Newsround' and 'Blue Peter'. Drama is said to be almost absent on multichannel offerings.
Andrea Millwood Hargrave, director of the Joint Research Programme for the BSC and ITC, said: "The terrestrial free-to-air channels continue to provide the greatest balance of diverse content, especially of factual and drama output."
Children in multichannel homes watch 35 minutes more TV than their counterparts in non-multichannel homes, although the amount of children's programming they watch is comparable.
Most of the children interviewed have TV sets in their bedrooms and are aware of what programmes are on and when. They also say that TV is a prime source of entertainment, if not their favourite activity.
Millwood added: "Television remains one of the most important sources of leisure entertainment for children and, with 59% penetration of multichannel television in homes with children, they have become more demanding of the quality of programmes on offer."
The research showed that families with children owned more home entertainment than those homes without. As many as 59% of homes with children subscribe to multichannel TV, compared with 46% of adult-only homes.
The 'What Children Watch' research was conducted between 1997 and 2001 and so does not include the BBC channels CBBC and CBeebies, which launched last year.
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