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TV2 Picks Up Icon Animation's Lola & Virginia

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.

Christophe Goldberger, head of distribution & marketing at Icon Animation said, "We are very happy to work with TV2 to bring LOLA & VIRGINIA to a new audience in Norway. We are currently in discussions with a number of potential licensing and merchandising partners to manage the brand in the region and hope to be able to announce a home video deal shortly."

Lola takes care of her snotty siblings and puts up with her crazy group of friends. She considers herself the local princess, until Virginia barges into her life. A stuck-up kid, Virginia who has it all: beauty, all the boyfriends she could ever want, good grades and stinking-rich parents who never refuse her anything. Their relationship soon involves alliances, strategies and betrayal.

LOLA & VIRGINIA is a co-production between Icon Animation, Millimages, France 3, TV Catalunya and ETB. It is based on the original concept created by Myriam Ballesteros, founding partner of Icon Animation with Sergi Reitg.

Pre-MIPTV sales for LOLA & VIRGINIA include Free TV channel SBT and a licensing and merchandising deal with agent Creative Licensing in Brazil. In Romania, LOLA & VIRGINIA has been snapped up by Kanal D and MUZ TV has acquired free TV rights for Russia. Ireland's TG4 has taken the show in a deal with Millimages, which shares distribution with Icon Animation.

LOLA & VIRGINIA premiered in the U.S. last June and on Nickelodeon Latin America last July. It will launch on France 3 and RTVE this year following other public broadcasters TV3, ETB and RTP.

The series has also been picked up by Nickelodeon in France and Asia, Disney Channel in Spain and in Italy, Canal Panda in Portugal, The Children Channel (Israel) and RCTV Venezuela. Icon Animation holds all distribution rights worldwide, except for France, French-speaking Switzerland, Benelux, the U.K., Ireland, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand, which are held by Millimages.

Icon Animation launched new LOLA & VIRGINIA online games at MIPTV and is looking for partners to roll out the brand in further territories and across new platforms. The LOLA & VIRGINIA website (www.lolavirginia.com) is available in Spanish, English and Catalan and is also being localized in Italian and Portuguese.

The witty animated series aimed at kids 6-12 is supported by a licensing and merchandising strategy that includes a deal for Spain & Portugal with Comercial Nim. Featured products are school sets, stationery, backpacks, pencil cases, while further product lines are planned by Comercial Nim, working with Mend�a Marketing that will include games, T-shirts, beach sets and toiletries.

Grupo Edebe has already launched 10 illustrated books in Spain and leading mobile content producer Alvento is distributing ring tones, games, images, screensavers and a WAP Portal for the popular brand.

Barcelona-based Icon Animation (www.icon-animation.com) is a producer/distributor of animated series. It creates innovative content for kids with strong designs and editorial lines, and a universal appeal. Its productions incorporate the latest technologies (including HD) as properties are developed for cross media exploitation (TV, video, licensing, merchandising and publishing). Icon Animation distributes worldwide a catalog of more than 1,000 half hours of premium kids programs, including animated feature films.