Playtime

The BBC has drip-fed the newspapers with a titbit from the new Annual Plan, that more will be spent on children's programming over the next three years. Partially, this is due to Ofcom holding Lord Hall's feet to the fire, using the 'hours' metric which he dislikes. This was the Ofcom diktat from March.

That represents an increase of 2% for CBBC. Ofcom's strictures also require that CBBC offers 1,000 hours of the most expensive genre, drama - though that can include repeats and acquisitions - and 675 hours of factual. This all driven by the man who used to run the BBC News Channel, Kevin Bakhurst, who left for RTE and is now Director of Content Policy at Ofcom. The beneficiaries of his Operating Licence - James Purnell and Alice Webb, running Children's, who, for at least three years will have more money to play with.