BBC
''Sesame Street'' premiered onITV
After the BBC rejected ''Sesame Street'', the''Sesame Street'' broadcast dates in Britain
* HTV - 29 March 1971 *Independent Television Authority Report
''Reactions to Sesame Street in Britain 1971'' was a report commissioned by the ITA in association with the National Council for Educational Technology and three ITV companies. The report was not distributed or published in the national press at first because the ITA believed that the increase in British children's programmes had decreased the demand for ''Sesame Street's'' broadcast in the UK, although both ITV and the BBC used the report to improve children's programming. The report found that educators "abhorred" ''Sesame Street'' for discrediting and possibly corrupting educational objectives. It also questioned the success of the educational approaches used by the show. Frank Blackwell, the director of the primary extension programmes for the National Council for Educational Technology, carried out the research reported in ITA's report. Both children and their parents were questioned about their interaction with ''Sesame Street'', and sociologists watched children's reactions while watching it. They found that 98—99% of young viewers enjoyed it, and were surprised to discover that most of the negative reactions were from educators. Most parents had positive reactions. The report cited the concerns raised by Americans such as John Holt and Arnold Arnold about the educational techniques used in ''Sesame Street'', as well as the validity of the research used by the CTW to produce the show. The investigators recognised the show's success in the U.S., but agreed with the BBC that both the ITA and the BBC had over twenty years of experience producing high-quality educational programmes for children, unlike in the U.S., where the production of ''Sesame Street'' was the first time a "proper pre-school television programme" was made. The report also agreed that the BBC's carefully selected imported programmes upheld their high standards. In the UK, the organisations involved in the production of educational television programmes were small, so it was easy for them to work together, thus forming a pool of knowledge accessible to few outside the industry. As a result, it was difficult to compare ''Sesame Street'' and British-made series, although ''Sesame Street'' helped galvanise the BBC and ITV to produce additional educational programmes for children. The report recommended that British shows follow the example of the producers and creators of ''Sesame Street'', and adjust the content of their programmes based upon their audience's feedback. The report concluded that without ''Sesame Street'', discussion would not have occurred, and the changes to both American and British children's programming would not have happened as quickly. The ITA's report found that most parents reported that their children were interested in ''Sesame Street''. Parents also reported that children responded well to the show, found the series funny, that it held their attention, and that most learned from viewing it. Most of their children requested to watch the show again. Parents' criticism of the show was that the pace was too fast, that some of the songs included were poor-in-quality, and that children were confused regarding the use of upper and lower case letters. Half of the parents questioned believed that a fifty-minute children's programme was too long. Parents' criticisms of ''Sesame Street'' tended to vary depending upon the region. 64% of parents in the HTV test area and 43% of parents in the LWT area considered the show too American. Overall, the feedback from young viewers was positive. The report found that children's attention levels were highest during the show'sAbsence from UK screens
Following the discontinuation of terrestrial broadcasts by Channel 4, Sesame Street has also been shown on satellite and cable channels, such asReferences
External links
{{Sesame Street Sesame Street