BabyFirstTV, a subscription-based network, is available via satellite and cable for $4.99 a month. Its programs air 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are targeted to children ages 6 months to 3 years. It claims to be an “educational tool that provides a positive learning environment and an engaging experience for both you and your baby.”
“Did you just shudder? Or did you reach for the phone to call DirecTV?” asks Buzz McClain of the McClatchy Newspapers. “Lots of adults have done both. Since its launch on Mother’s Day 2006, BabyFirstTV has found its way to 30 countries, making the network available to some 80 million homes. A DVD line of the programming is coming to stores soon.”
“BabyFirstTV transforms traditional TV into an interactive and educational tool that relies on the television as a medium to deliver high-quality programming and an engaging experience for both baby and parents,” the channel’s website breathlessly announces. “BabyFirstTV can enrich the connection between parents and baby and give them new opportunities for learning and playing together.”
“The general idea of parking babies in car seats on the floor in front of a television troubles childhood development professionals,” writes McClain. “The American Academy of Pediatrics says simply, “Don’t do it!”
Meanwhile the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood added BabyFirstTV to a suit filed with the Federal Trade Commission a month after the network launched, complaining that it, as well as the Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby line of DVDs — were falsely advertising educational benefits without evidence.”
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