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Moonscoop LLC has been rebranded Splash Entertainment.
The US kids producer and distributor and VOD platform operator will be run by Mike and Liz Young and Nicolas Atlan who, with the backing of private investment from French company JokeBox, have taken full control of the company.
Moonscoop LLC was the US unit of the Moonscoop kids business. The France-based part of the business, Moonscoop SA, went into administration last year and its assets, including a 1,000-hour programming library, were last week acquired by French animation producer Ellipsanime.
Mike Young and Atlan will be co-CEOs at Splash and Liz Young will serve as president. JokeBox was named as a private passive investor.
Splash said the rebrand and ownership news came after a ‘judicial recovery procedure against Moonscoop SA’ and a decision from a French bankruptcy court.
Splash’s key properties include Chloe’s Closet, Dive Olly Dive!, Hero:108, Growing Up Creepie, Pet Alien and Todd World. The slate of new shows includes Master Blaster, The Meeps, It’s Archie and Sabrina Secrets of a Teenage Witch.
The US business will control the Kabillion free-VOD platform, which is now available in about half of US pay TV homes. It bought Studio 100 out of the VOD service last year.
“It has certainly been a challenging past several months and now with the legal and business issues behind us we are very happy to be getting back to the business at hand. That business, quite simply, is producing and distributing the finest children’s entertainment for growing audiences around the world,” said Mike Young.
Atlan added: “Our goals for 2014 include a new season of Sabrina Secrets of a Teenage Witch, Master Blaster, It’s Archie, based on the iconic Archie Comics publications and, of course, to reach close to 60 million cable households with Kabillion.”