SpongeBob won the hearts of children all over America during the first year of the cartoon series on the Nicklelodeon cable television network.
VOA: special.2009.08.21
In Britain, says David Brennan, who heads research in the country for Flextech, a broadcaster, children in homes with cable or satellite television now spend two-thirds of their viewing time watching something other than the over-the-air networks, compared with just over one-third for adults.
The Conference recommended that governments consider regulations to ensure that harmful material, especially to children, was not freely available on cable.
But the government countered that 69 million television sets are not connected to cable or satellite, and that broadcasting is the medium of choice for children.