ITC Report Reveals More TVs in Children’s Bedrooms

TV viewers may still be offended by bad language, sex and violence, but it doesn’t stop them acquiring increasing amounts of home entertainment equipment, including to put in their children’s bedrooms.

In the ITC’s report Television: the Public’s View 1999, published today, it is revealed that around 30% of all viewers had been offended by something they had seen on television last year.

The likelihood of being offended increased if you were female (38% compared to 26% of males) and also the older you were (11% of 16-24 year olds had been offended, compared to 57% of over 65 year olds). The most common causes of offence were bad language, sex and violence, and Channel 4 was named as the channel most likely to offend.

Despite the chances of being offended by what’s on, viewers own increasing amounts of home entertainment equipment. 36% of all TV viewers now watch in NICAM digital stereo, compared to 22% in the previous year, and 8% own a widescreen set, compared to 6% in the last report. Cable television is also growing in popularity, from 13% in 1998 to 16% in 1999, as is access to the internet, with 13% able to surf the web last year, compared to 8% two years ago.

The survey also found that 58% of boys age 0-15 years have television in their bedrooms, compared to the last figure of 49%, while 47% of girls have a bedroom set, compared to 42% in 1998.

Boys are also more likely to have games consoles, video recorders and computers in their rooms, with the numbers increasing. Girls are less likely to have this equipment, and the numbers there are dropping. The likelihood of having any of this equipment increased with age for both genders.

Four in ten correspondents were found to have access to multi-channel television. Over a third used pay-per-view services for films or sport, despite the majority objecting to the system in principle. Among multi-channel viewers, 40% chose a satellite or cable channel as their favourite, although overall ITV was the most popular channel (41% of all viewers named it as their favourite, up 1% on last year), having lengthened its lead over BBC 1 (preferred by 30%, compared to 35% last year).

ITC: 020 7255 3000