Thomas & Friends has a new home on British pay TV, with Cartoonito stealing away the rights from Nick Jr. In further news, Cartoonito has acquired rights to the long-running Sesame Street, bringing the updated series back to UK screens. The Mattel-owned Thomas & Friends will transfer to the Turner-owned channel next year, 32 years after […]
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 […]
Digital preschool service OobEdoO has added shows from BBC Worldwide and HIT Entertainment to its line-up. From the BBC’s commercial arm comes season four of Balamory and season three of Charlie and Lola, while HIT is providing two 50-minute specials and six episodes of Barney & Friends. OobEdoO already offers programming from Bob the Builder, […]
HIT Entertainment has hired a trio of senior executives, one being a former staffer who will be a director at the firm’s preschool production hub. Karen Davidsen worked for HIT between 1998 and 2007, and now returns as director of production, global content. In the role, she will oversee all organisational aspects of production scheduling, […]
HIT Entertainment is making three direct to DVD specials based on its core properties: Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam and Mike the Knight. HIT has also greenlit a new 26x11mins CGI Thomas series. The one-hour shows will be produced by HIT and in the case of Mike the Knight, Canadian kids firm Nelvana. All three […]
Children’s TV is something that binds and defines peer groups. With new versions of Thunderbirds, Noddy and various others in the works the commercial power of nostalgia is clearly intense, but when updating a classic respect and modern-day relevance are key, reports Jane Marlowe. Turner’s Cartoon Network was built with classic properties and senior VP […]
Kids network JimJam has picked up animated series Heroes of the City from German distributor Your Family Entertainment. The 26-part show will debut on the Chello Zone-owned preschool channel later this month. The 3D series, which was produced by Swedish production company Ruta Ett, follows various emergency and rescue vehicles as they help people and chase […]
Broadcasters in Asia and Australasia have acquired more than 100 hours of Hit Entertainment’s children’s programming, including deals for Mike the Knight and Thomas & Friends. Among the deals secured by Hit’s Hong Kong office, Disney Junior in south east Asia and Hong Kong has snapped up season one of CGI series Mike (52x11mins). New […]
US streaming service Hulu has launched a dedicated kids section on its Hulu Plus premium service, following the lead of its rival Netflix. Hulu Kids launched yesterday and at launch showcased 43 of the children’s series available on the commercial-free Hulu Plus service. Titles include Thomas & Friends, Caillou and, following the agreement of a […]
