ITV reduces kids TV to five hours

ITV1 is cutting its kids output from eight hours to five hours per week, its statement of programme policy has revealed.

The document states that ITV will broadcast a total of 500 hours of kid’s content during this year, with half coming during the GMTV timeslot and half during ITV1 hours.

The broadcaster said the programming would "include a meaningful amount of ITV1 originations."

Last summer, ITV revealed proposals to Ofcom that indicated it would reduce its kid’s output to around two hours, but said it came to this week's decision after "taking into account the opinion of Ofcom."

ITV director of television Simon Shaps defended the move, stating: "This is a substantially greater commitment than any of our main competitors and as much as the total commitment across BBC One and BBC Two combined."

"On top of this, around 90% of UK children already have access to the CiTV channel which we make available free-to-air to every digital home in Britain. All told, we believe that this represents a substantial commitment," he added.