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UK gets kids’ TV tax break

The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has confirmed that a tax break for the production of UK children’s live-action television is to be introduced.

Wolfblood

Wolfblood

The news comes after the UK government last year set up tax breaks for high-end television drama and animation made in the UK, which have had a positive effect on both industries.

The new tax relief will be available from April 1 next year at a rate of 25% on qualifying production expenditure, bringing it in line with the animation and high-end TV tax breaks.

Osborne said today that previous incentives had “ushered in a golden age for Britain’s creative industries” and that its latest tax credit would “help one area of television production that has been in decline.”

The local children’s sector has spent the past six months campaigning to get the law extended to include kids’ live-action.

This week leading names from the UK children’s TV sector came together to urge Osborne to get behind the tax break, which could be worth almost £3m (US$5.1m) a year to the government, according to research done on behalf of UK trade association Pact, which welcomed the news today.

“Nowhere in the world does better kids’ TV than the UK. Time and time again, British TV producers have created the most successful, innovative and creative programmes for children,” said Pact CEO John McVay.

Live-action programmes are largely drama, factual and factual entertainment shows, and include educational and schools programming.

Teletubbies

Teletubbies

The UK has a history of producing popular and commercially lucrative kids’ live-action programming, such as preschool hits Teletubbies and Tweenies.

A tax break for kids’ live-action could improve UK television exports and also help boost international coproduction opportunities, meaning dramas with international appeal in the vein of Anglo-German copro Wolfblood could become more common. The series airs on CBBC and ZDF in Germany.

The kids’ TV production community also hopes the tax break will encourage UK broadcasters such as ITV to commission more children’s content, while there are also hopes global broadcasters such as Disney and Viacom, as well as new players such as Netflix and Amazon, will now invest more in children’s programming in the UK.

“We hope all broadcasters will use this to enhance their locally produced output, increase the level of commissioning of UK drama, documentary and entertainment and extend their commitment to the younger audience,” said Anna Home, chair of lobbying group the Children’s Media Foundation.

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