Disney US buys animated shows from Chorion

Disney channel has bought Octonauts and Gaspard and Lisa. The pair of animated preschool shows will air on Disney Junior in the US, starting next year, after Disney struck a deal with distributor Chorion.

Octonauts debuted on the BBC’s digital kids channel CBeebies last October and the UK public broadcaster recently ordered a second series of the show, which targets 4-to-6 year-olds.

Internationally, Chorion has already shopped the series, which is based on a book series, to broadcasters including ABC (Australia), TF1 (France), RTE (Ireland), Discovery Kids Latin America, RTP (Portugal) and Disney (Japan).

Gaspard and Lisa, based on the kids books by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben, follows the adventures of two six-year-old best friends. The 50x11mins series launched on French commercial broadcaster TF1 last autumn.

Geraint Marsh, senior VP, television sales at Chorion said: “It’s testament to the appeal of both series that the [Disney] channel is showing such support to two of our new shows, and we are thrilled to be bringing them to audiences in America.”

Disney Junior is the preschool channel that initially launched as a block, replacing Playhouse Disney. It will be a full-fledged channel from next year, when the abovementioned shows debut, replacing SoapNet.