US-based kids content company Genius Brands International has acquired Canadian prodco Wow! Unlimited Media for $53m. The deal will allow Genius Brands to use WOW!’s production facilities to access Canadian tax credits and move animation production currently being undertaken by service companies in China in-house. Financial details have not been revealed, but the acquisition is […]
Jellyfish named new MD of originals UK-based animation studio Jellyfish Pictures has appointed Natalie Llewellyn as managing director of its children’s animation original production division Jellyfish Originals. Llewellyn, who joined the company in 2018 as head of IP development, will now take lead on the creative and commercial efforts of the division and be responsible […]
Marni Shulman, the former head of content and programming for collapsed Canadian SVOD service Shomi, has joined Wow! Unlimited Media as senior vice president and general manager. Shulman will be responsible for overseeing the launch of Wow!’s new multiplatform kids and youth brand as well as spearheading the execution of its new partnership with Bell […]
Canada’s Bell Media has taken a 12% stake in compatriot kids company Wow! Unlimited Media as part of an equity swap agreement. The deal sees Wow acquiring a Category B specialty network licence from Bell in exchange for an equity stake worth C$6.87 million (US$5.64 million). This will see Wow launching a branded linear network […]
Canada’s Rainmaker Entertainment has acquired kids companies Frederator Networks and Ezrin Hirsh Entertainment, paying a total of C$22.2 million (US$16.2 million) to create a combined company. Once the ‘arms-length’ mergers are complete, the combined Rainmaker, Frederator and EH will become WOW! Unlimited Media. This Toronto-based firm will have a newly formed board and a reorganised […]
