Icon Animation, a leading production and distribution company in Spain specializing in youth programming, has followed a slew of recent deals for its popular girl-skewed show, LOLA & VIRGINIA, with a sale to TV2 Norway at MIPTV.

Decode Ent. traveled to MIPTV 2007 with a brand new show, BO ON THE GO! The series has been commissioned by Canada's CBC and is produced by Decode's sister company in DHX Media Ltd., Halifax Film.

Employing motion-capture technology and CG, BO ON THE GO! promotes an active lifestyle and an active mind for preschoolers. It has been created by a dedicated group of artists, broadcasters and educators to instill a love of movement in children, as well as promote a more active lifestyle while linking their activity to a plot-driven story.

Flying Bark Prods. Pty. Ltd. in Autralia has joined forces with A Stark Production to establish a new company -- A Stark Ent. A Stark Ent., which comes under the umbrella of Flying Bark Prods. and will be responsible for creating and developing independent projects in children's entertainment programming.

MIPTV 2007 in Cannes April 16-20 seems to be off to a bright airy start, partly in thanks to the warm weather and the ever-increasing exhibition space for participants. If you are a MIP regular and think you pretty much know where to find everyone, look again. Many animation exhibitors have moved out of the crowded, yet easy access of the bottom floor of the Palis and are spread out to huge new exhibition halls and tents on the roof of the Riviera or across from the structure along the croisette.

Nickelodeon has partnered with media content company, Chorion, to present OLIVIA, a new children's animated television series based on the best-selling books by acclaimed author/illustrator Ian Falconer.

The new CGI series (52x11 and one 44 minute special) will be animated by Academy Award-nominated Irish animation studio Brown Bag Films. Nick Jr. will present 26 half-hour episodes in the U.S. and sales for the international territories will be made at MIP this month.

Xilam's canine comedy RINTINDUMB (75 x 1 minute 30 seconds), featuring Lucky Luke's sidekick, the dumbest dog in the west, has been picked up by a raft of broadcasters at MIPTV. The animated series, which debuted in September on France 3, has been licensed to Mediaset (Italy), Dutch kids TV channel Z@pp, TV5 (France) and TeleQuebec Canada.

Building on the success of the TV series, award-winning animation companies Xilam (France) and Zinkia (Spain) are launching the 75-minute SHURIKEN THE MOVIE at MIPTV.

The movie is in production, with delivery due August 2007.

Taffy Ent. will pull into MIPTV with new deals for animated series FANTASTIC FOUR and BOBBY'S WORLD.

Taffy Ent. has signed a U.K. deal for FANTASTIC FOUR, the animated series based on Marvel's superhero franchise. GMTV has acquired the program for its weekend children's strand, Toonattik, which airs on ITV1 and CITV.

In separate deals, the series has also been snapped up by TV Globo in Brazil, MRTL in Hungary and Fox Video for Europe and Latin America.

Toon Boom Animation Inc. has released Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, the only digital storyboarding software for films, documentaries, gaming, advertising and animation projects. Storyboard Pro is an entirely paperless system, enabling storyboard artists, directors and producers to save significant time and costs, as well as help preserve the Earth's natural resources.

Corus Ent. Inc.'s Nelvana Enterprises is bringing MY FRIEND RABBIT and DI-GATA DEFENDERS to MIPTV.

Based on Eric Rohmann's 2003 Caldecott Gold Medal-winning children's book, MY FRIEND RABBIT will be produced by Nelvana Studios and was commissioned by Treehouse, Corus' preschool broadcast service in Canada.