Nelvana has inked a video-on-demand agreement with British Telecommunications Inc. (BT) in the U.K. Coming on the heels of recent North American partnerships with Comcast and Rogers (along with preschool broadcaster Treehouse), this deal widens the scope of Nelvana's on-demand initiatives to include Europe.
MAGGIE AND THE FEROCIOUS BEAST, LITTLE BEAR, BABAR, MAX & RUBY and THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS are among the initial family entertainment programs Nelvana will make available to BT's next-generation TV offering, slated to launch by late summer/fall 2006.
BT customers will be able to choose from a range of on-demand film, music and television programming combined with an interactive and communications service all available on their TV sets, with no mandatory monthly subscription fee. The service will be a world-first, combining access to digital terrestrial channels through the aerial with broadband-powered video-on-demand.
"It's an exciting time for content producers as the promise of on-demand services and next-generation TV platforms is realized through providers such as BT," said Doug Murphy, Nelvana's evp of business development. "This deal opens the European video-on-demand market to Nelvana's deep library of animated family programming, and we are proud to have gained this foothold with an innovative partner like BT."
Dan Marks, ceo, TV Services, BT Retail, said, "We are building a fantastic entertainment offering for the entire family and are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Nelvana, which will bring their extremely popular, high-quality and family-friendly animated programming to our service and our customers."
Nelvana Limited is one of the world's leading international producers and distributors of children's programming and products. Nelvana is owned by Corus Ent., a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in both specialty TV and radio. The company's other interests include music, television broadcasting and advertising services. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto and New York Exchanges. Corus' website can be found at www.corusentertainment.com.
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in more than 140 countries. Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services and higher-value broadband and internet products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale. In the year ended 31 March 2005, BT Group's revenue was GBP 18,623 million with profit before taxation of GBP 2,354 million.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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