Amberwood Ent. has appointed 4Kids Ent. as the worldwide merchandise licensing agent and marketing brand manager for its new animated TV series, ROLLBOTS. 4Kids will manage global licensing opportunities, working closely with all licensees of the ROLLBOTS brand, including recently signed master toy licensee Mattel.

ROLLBOTS, a CG animated action-comedy with 26 episodes currently in production, features perfectly round robots with arm and leg appendages that retract, allowing them to roll at extreme speeds on roller-coaster-like tracks through their world, Flip City.

MEDIATOON will present the first episodes of the new CGI series of GARFIELD from French producer Dargaud Media at MIPCOM. American cartoonist Jim Davis, who created the comic strip 30 years ago, is the exec producer. In addition to the world famous comic strip, two blockbuster feature films, TV specials and a large amount of merchandising and Internet content, Garfield strikes again with 52x11 episodes shot in HD.

BabyFirst has formed BFTV Productions, an in-house unit established to produce original television programming expressly for the preschool market.

Now reaching 100 million home worldwide, BabyFirst is a commercial-free 24/7 channel designed for babies and toddlers and their parents. Arik Kerman, SVP of Programming for BabyFirst and the executive responsible the channel's programming, will serve as General Manager of BFTV Productions. Programming produced by BFTV Productions will be offered to preschool broadcasters worldwide.

The first feature length TUTENSTEIN movie based on PorchLight Ent.'s two-time Emmy winning television series, is set to debut on Discovery Kids in the U.S. this fall and premiere internationally at MIPCOM Junior in October.

DECODE Enterprises, the distribution subsidiary of DHX Media, has promoted Josh Scherba from Director of Sales to VP, Distribution.

In his new role, he will continue to head the sales team for DECODE Enterprises' distribution catalogue which includes programming from DHX's production subsidiary's DECODE Entertainment, Halifax Film and Studio B Productions as well as acquired third party series.

Do you know how many sun swords a wizard with only seven charisma points needs to slay a wandering armored Tharg troll? Likely, you don't have a clue, but this is common knowledge in NERDLAND, a new stop-motion animated pilot debuting at MIPCOM in October from Cuppa Coffee Studios and set to air this fall on TELETOON.

Gary Wang, founder and CEO of Tudou, China's leading video sharing platform, will deliver a keynote at MIPCOM 2008. The address will be given on Thursday, October 16 within the framework of a day of debate dedicated to the convergence between TV, video sharing online communities and video games. The 24th edition of MIPCOM runs October 13-17 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based Academy Award-winning animation studio has restructured its Marketing, Licensing and International TV Distribution departments, merging them all into a newly formed division called Aardman Rights. The new division is set up to market and sell Aardman content across all media and it will seek to expand its IP portfolio by representing third-party properties.

KIDSCREEN Magazine reports that 80 full-time employees of the newly merged DIC Ent./Cookie Jar Group have been let go. Plans to restructure the company came earlier in August, following the July acquisition.

Most positions were eliminated effectively immediately, according to Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh. Some departures will occur as far away as six months from now to finish up current projects. The company now employs between 230 and 240 people, including staff at CPLG the European licensing agency that was part of the DIC acquisition.

Ze Frank, Internet legend and pioneer, comedian, presenter and lecturer, and Gary Carter, President, Creative Networks and Chief Creative Officer, FMX of FremantleMedia, will deliver a joint keynote on creativity at MIPCOM 2008, on Tuesday, October 14 in cooperation with the Entertainment Master Class, The Format Academy for Entertainment Television.