Category: Business

Turkey's health minister, Osman Durmus, has urged TV stations to remove POKEMON from their line-up in light of two children suffering injuries copying the actions of the cartoon's characters. On Friday, November 24, 7-year-old Seda Aykanat suffered a broken leg when she leapt off the fifth-floor balcony of her apartment. Previously this year, a 4-year-old boy in Turkey also sustained injuries copying the super-powered stunts of POKEMON characters.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.

The Mad Cow Picture Company has just opened its doors in Sydney, Australia. The new studio specializes in Flash animation and animation pre-production, including storyboarding and character design. Mad Cow Picture Company offers a mix of digital and traditional animation. The company is currently creating pilot episodes for StupidHeroes.com and 00STEVEN: PLAYGROUND PRIVATE EYE. For more information contact The Mad Cow Picture Company at: Tel.: ++612 9808 4153; Fax: ++612 9808 1041; or Web: http://www.madcowpictures.com.

Montreal television producer TVA International has decided to decrease its production of primetime TV content and focus on animation and international distribution. As part of the move, the company cut 20 jobs and its head of longform production, Jacques Methe, resigned. The company said it would continue to distribute primetime productions worldwide, but would stop producing them. In addition, TVA Intl. announced its has signed a three-year pact with Studio Canal + to distribute the French production house's films in Canada. The deal is said to be worth several million dollars. TVA Intl.

Sony Corp. has announced that it's cutting its initial U.K. shipment of PlayStation 2 gaming consoles from 200,000 to 165,000 units. The cut-back is due to a computer chip shortage, which also led to Sony halving its originally projected 1 million unit shipment to the U.S. Arriving in the U.S. on October 26, the next generation console made an estimated $165 million in its first 72 hours of release. In addition, PlayStation 2 has sold approximately 3.5 million units in Japan since its release there in March.

Das Werk, a leading German provider of digital processing services, announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire a majority stake in Glassworks, a London digital effects studio which combines 3D computer-generated imaging with high-end compositing and special effects. In purchasing a share of Glassworks, Das Werk will further expand its international portfolio of post-production facilities and gain a hold in the high-profile London advertising and music video market.

On Monday, November 6, 2000, German children's TV producer and rights buyer TV Loonland announced that it expects annual sales to top DM127 million (US$55.9 million) for 2000. This report is almost four times its original estimate of DM32.7 million ($14.4 million) when the German company went public in March. It's pretax profit is estimated to be DM25.5 million ($11.2 million), increased from DM18.6 million ($8.2 million). TV Loonland attributes the growth to its recent international acquisitions, including the purchase of France's Salsa Distribution and U.K. production studio Telemagination.

Children's animation producer Nelvana has won its lawsuit against Paris-based Editions Mango for the use of Nelvana-owned properties after the two companies' licensing agreement was terminated. In 1994, Nelvana and New York creative consultancy Clifford Ross Co. signed a licensing deal with Editions Mango, allowing the French company to produce and sell books based on Nelvana and Ross-owned characters, including Babar, Celeste, Arthur, Cornelius, Flora and Alexandre.

Mainframe Entertainment and Studio B Productions have announced that the two Vancouver animation studios are entering into a co-production agreement to develop an original series utilizing both traditional and computer animation. Mainframe CEO Ian Pearson said, "We've admired Studio B's work for some time and were looking for a partner in the traditional animation realm to co-produce projects that combine 2D and 3D animation techniques.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2000, The Harvey Entertainment Company announced that the proposed preferred stock investment by Classic Media LLC has been terminated due to the companies' inability to reach a definitive agreement. On August 24, 2000, Harvey announced that it had signed a Letter of Intent with Classic Media for an investment of roughly US$30 million in exchange for a new issue of Harvey Preferred Stock.

Cinar Corp. has signed a deal with Bahamas-based Globe-X Management to recover US$50.9 million that was invested in offshore accounts without board approval. The investments were originally to be paid by November of this year, however the new agreement has Globe-X paying out weekly installments between now and August 17, 2001. As part of the new arrangement, Cinar has dropped all legal charges made against Globe-X.