The Australian government has promised the Australian Broadcasting Corporation US$74 million to create a dedicated ad-free digital children's channel that will air locally made content, reports C21 MEDIA. The station, which may be called ABC3 or ABC Kids, will be available 15 hours a day and will show programs for children up to 17 years of age. Half of the funding will be for commissioning new content and half will be used for licensing existing programs.
The decision may in part be a response to the call for a ban on junk-food ads in children's programming on commercial TV, a move which was also undertaken in the U.K.
ABC closed its digital kids channels Fly TV and ABC Kids four years ago following a disagreement between its former management and the government.
