Barclays has doubled its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) investment fund for UK TV producers to £200m (US$256m), after reporting “exceptional demand”. Barclays Corporate Banking said that it has already paid out more than £100m ($128m) to production companies in the 18 months since its initial £100m fund has been active. To date, the bank has […]
UK-based children’s television producer Silvergate Media has hired a VP for the EMEA region. Lisa MacDonald has joined Lord Waheed Alli’s production and licensing group from Hello Kitty brand owner Sanrio, where she oversaw the Mister Men property. The hire comes after Silvergate named former Walt Disney Company Latin America CFO Jeff Farnath as its […]
Kids prodco Silvergate has hired former Disney Studios Lat Am CFO Jeff Farnath as its new finance chief. The new recruit joins the Octonauts and Peter Rabbit producer from Discovery-backed digital lifestyle brand Thrillist Media Group. He has also worked at Classic Media (now part of DreamWorks) and been CEO of Coraline prodco Laika Entertainment. […]
Canada-based 9 Story is upping its distribution efforts, opening a new operation, 9 Story Distribution International, in the wake of MIPCOM. The new international unit follows the acquisition of Dublin-based Octonauts prodco Brown Bag Films, and the hire of kids TV veteran Alix Wiseman from Aardman. Speaking to TBI in Cannes this week, Wiseman said […]
Hopster has added a raft of content to its SVOD service in Australia and New Zealand, including hit series Octonauts and Thomas & Friends. The UK-based SVOD service has expanded in numerous international markets, launching in Australia and New Zealand last year. It has now inked a deal with ABC Commercial, the distribution arm of […]
Streaming service Netflix has taken rights to various seasons of British preschool toon Octonauts in a number of territories. The deal with Silvergate Media, which produces and sells the show, sees Netflix take rights to seasons one, two and three in France, Latin America and English- and French-speaking Canada. The number of seasons varies depending […]
Canadian kids company 9 Story Media Group has bought Irish animation studio Brown Bag Films. The deal is the most significant in the animation sector for some time, though financial details of the agreement were not revealed. Brown Bag, which Cathal Gaffnet leads as co-founder and CEO, has produced popular animated shows such as Octonauts, […]
Australian on-demand services Presto and Stan have both scored new programming deals. The deals come as Australia’s on-demand market adapts to a number of new services launching in the territory in recent months, and ahead of the upcoming launch of Netflix. Presto’s deals hand the Foxtel-owned SVOD service HBO programming including The Sopranos, Entourage, The […]
Global kids TV veteran Neil Court has joined the board of Irish animation producer Brown Bag Films. Court, co-founder of DHX Media predecessor Decode Entertainment, has been advising the Dublin-based prodco since November, and has now formalised the relationship. Court has also been managing director of Nelvana Enterprises and his own international media consultancy. He […]
Octonauts brand owner Silvergate Media has hired former Chorion and France Televisions exec Geraint Marsh to head a new distribution division. Marsh is well known to Silvergate founder Lord Waheed Alli having worked under him at Chorion, which shed most of its brands as part of an assets sale in 2012. The new distribution arm […]
