Day: February 15, 2008

child, children, kids, Kidscreen Summit, Spanish, television

V-Me

Christa Avampato

There are 5.5 million pre-school children in the U.S. who are Hispanic. Their parents are interested in preserving their culture and raising their children to speak Spanish. V-Me is a new network that has launched to serve this population, as well as those parents who are interested in having their children learn Spanish. 6 hours / day, 6 days / week, V-Me provides Spanish-language programming for pre-schoolers.

As interesting as the content of V-Me is their business model – it is the first hybrid in television to be a public TV partner and have private investors. While many public companies strive to create content with a good return that is good for the public, many are willing to tell you that when push comes to shove, the money doesn’t play second fiddle to content. Production, after all, is very expensive. V-Me has the challenge of putting financial return on a level playing field with content.

A recent partnership of interest is with iTunes. V-Me content will be the first iTunes partner to have children’s content in Spanish. 

child, children, kids, Kidscreen Summit

Thinking like a kid

Christa Avampato

“Be proud of yourself because sometimes you’re all you’ve got.” ~ Dennis the Menace

At the Kidscreen Summit, I have heard over and over again about the importance of being able to think like a child and being proud of having an imagination that never grows up. Easier said than done. Our past disappointments and successes sometimes turn us into cynics. We grow jaded with the years, as if we are operating in a world is that is static. In an effort maximize our own comfort, we assume that we’ve seen it all, done it all, or know someone who has. Nothing can ever be new.

With this mindset it is tough to imagine being a child. We’ve lost touch with that sense of wonder and curiosity that children exhibit and experience every day. They look at the entire world with new eyes, and in the process they see things, experience things, and imagine things that we may be unable to imagine due to that huge chip on our shoulder.

The fun thing about the Kidscreen Summit is that being child-like is celebrated. It’s actually crucial to their business. They can’t afford to be jaded, financially or in spirit. Their jaded attitude would come at far too high a cost. They’d miss their greatest opportunities.