Entertainment Rights today announced an update on trading of the company's newest programs at last week's global MIPTV market in Cannes, France.
Chloe van den Berg, Executive Director, International, Entertainment Rights said, "We have been delighted by the interest from broadcast partners all around the world in the new additions to our already extensive Entertainment Rights, Classic Media and Big Idea portfolios. POSTMAN PAT - SPECIAL DELIVERY SERVICE, TOOPY & BINOO, SHELLDON, CASPER'S SCARE SCHOOL and GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE have each been incredibly well received at the market, and as a result a number of deals have already been agreed with key broadcasters."
The brand new BBC commission, POSTMAN PAT - SPECIAL DELIVERY SERVICE, which is set to air in the UK on CBeebies in Autumn 2008, was formally introduced to the international television buying audience for the first time at the market. The series, which sees Pat promoted and outfitted with a host of exciting new vehicles and supporting characters, was seen as an ideal evolution of the Postman Pat brand by MIPTV attendees.
Sales were agreed with key broadcast partners in Denmark, Sweden, Australia, pan-regionally in the Middle East and Iceland, from where a key buyer dubbed it the "must buy for MIPTV". A number of additional deals agreed at the market will be announced in due course.
TOOPY AND BINOO received a comparably enthusiastic response from television buyers at last week's market. Aimed at 2-5 year olds, TOOPY AND BINOO is based upon the best-selling Canadian children's books by author Dominque Jolin, the program inspires children to expand their imagination and creativity as they follow the exploits of Toopy (a large and loveable mouse) and Binoo (a tiny cat), who are inseparable friends and enjoy life to the fullest.
A consistent top performer for leading Canadian preschool broadcaster Treehouse, TOOPY AND BINOO was sold into Korea and a leading commercial Free TV channel in the Middle East, amongst others. They join Cartoon Network (Latin America), Rai Sat (Italy), Tiji (France), RTP (Portugal), and Kids Central (Singapore) as broadcasters of the program, while in the U.S., PBS acts as the brand's exclusive online and video distribution partner.
A recent addition to the ER portfolio of third party properties is CG-animated series SHELLDON, which elicited substantial interest from broadcasters worldwide, including those in the UK, France, and multiple Scandinavian and Asian territories, where deals are expected to be signed and announced in a matter of weeks.
SHELLDON is a light-hearted series that aims to entertain as well as educate children about marine life and creatures that live in the sea. The show is predominantly targeted at children 4 to 8 years old, although its unique blend of humor makes it an ideal family viewing experience.
The animated GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE series continued to garner sizeable interest following successful launches in the U.K. on Nickelodeon in autumn 2007 and on Cartoon Network in the U.S. in January 2008 where the show premiered to strong initial ratings and consistently ranks as the number 1 rated show (boys 6-11) on the platform.
The program has been sold to broadcasters in Norway (NRK), Russia (Central Partnership), Scandinavia (Pan Regionally via Nickelodeon), Belgium (VRT), Finland (VRT), Netherlands (Netherlands Public Broadcasting), Ireland (RTE), Denmark (TV2) and Iceland (RUV). These broadcasters join France 3 and France 5, where the series successfully launched in October 2007, as well as Super RTL in Germany.
Brand new CG animated series CASPER'S SCARE SCHOOL, which is currently in production for TF1 in France and for Cartoon Network Europe, also generated positive chatter amongst international buyers at MIPTV.
Founded 10,000 years ago the Scare School was created to reform wayward (meaning not very scary) monsters, and make them scary again. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Casper tries to be scary, he can't help but be friendly. Aimed at 4 to 9 year olds, the series was successfully sold into the Netherlands (Jetix), Denmark (DR.TV), Finland (MYV 3), Norway (NRK) and the Middle East (Cartoon Network).
