With newly struck Germany-based deals, TV-Loonlands CONNIE THE COW will be licensed to Disney and East Ent. German firm East Ent. has also secured rights to SOMETHING ELSE and the animated feature film HEIDI.
Disney Channel has been broadcasting CONNIE since September 2004 on its Premiere platform a first in the history of German television. With CONNIE THE COW we have a preschool series in our lineup thats already been sold to many stations in Europe and elsewhere including ABC in Australia and one that consistently gets outstanding ratings, said Peter Völkle, president/ceo of TV-Loonland.
Nicky Kerth, manager acquisitions, Disney Channel, said, We are very pleased to have such a high-quality and lovingly created animated series for preschool children in our program with CONNIE THE COW.
The series produced by Neptuno Films, Spain, chronicles the exciting adventures of the rebellious, tireless and most of all insatiably curious Connie the Cow and her friends. Stimulated by Connies yen for discovery, young viewers are encouraged to investigate their own lives with an equal amount of curiosity.
Additionally, TV-Loonland has concluded a licensing agreement with East Ent. Media GmbH, Erfurt, for German speaking territories, concerning the commercial exploitation of its hit series CONNIE THE COW and SOMETHING ELSE. East Ent., publisher of computer and videogames for all market-relevant platforms (including PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance), has also acquired the marketing rights to HEIDI.
East Ent. is a new and innovative company which specializes in products that appeal to a broad target group. We are therefore delighted with this deal, said Peter Vlkle, ceo of TV-Loonland. According to the licensing agreement, East Ent. will be able to market the TV-Loonland series and the feature film as software both on computers as well as on videogame consoles for a licensing period of almost five years throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Peter Ackermann-Schfer, managing partner at East Ent., said, TV-Loonland is a company that is synonymous with successful, high-quality childrens entertainment. We are delighted that with CONNIE THE COW and SOMETHING ELSE, we will be able to offer our customers much-loved TV-Loonland series with an excellent entertainment value. And the potential uses of the modern animated childrens classic HEIDI on computer or as a videogame is also bound to meet with considerable interest both among retailers and consumers.
We have only just started marketing our feature film HEIDI. It is therefore all the more pleasing that East Entertainment will be able to open up our new film as well as two of our successful comic series to a broad consumer group with their products, said Heiko Andre, sales manager merchandising at TV-Loonland.
Thanks to state-of-the-art animation techniques, the TV-Loonland new production HEIDI (1x80) presents a new version of the classic HEIDI theme. At the same time, it retains the strong and colorful characters of the book, which has been translated into more than 50 languages with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. The co-production between TV-Loonland, its U.K. subsidiary Telemagination and the Canadian production company Nelvana is scheduled for completion by the end of 2004.
SOMETHING ELSE (26x11), a co-production between TV-Loonland, ZDF and Studio B, relates the adventures of the curious characters Something and Else. The stories of the inseparable friends are based on the childrens books of the same name by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell, which have been available in Germany for the past ten years. They were originally published in England in 1948.
The Disney Channel is the premium channel in the Walt Disney Television Intl portfolio and is broadcast via Premiere in Germany and Austria and via Teleclub in Switzerland.
East Ent. GmbH is a publisher of computer and videogames for all market-relevant platforms (including PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance) and specializes in products that appeal to a broad target group. Experienced industry veterans Peter Ackermann-Schfer and Bettina Sawatzky founded Erfurt-based East Ent. in November 2004. The companys full product portfolio is marketed by Vitrex Multimedia Grohandel GmbH.
TV-Loonland is an integrated media company and counts among the leading international producer/distributors of animation for children, youth and families. With its own development teams and production facilities in Continental Europe, Great Britain and the U.S., a comprehensive rights catalogue as well as a worldwide operating distribution team, TV-Loonland has today become a world leader among the independent majors in the industry. For more information, visit www.loonland.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
