HIT Ent. Ltd. (HIT) London announced a raft of new agent appointments to represent its properties across the world. "This marks a major shift in gear for HIT as we reinvigorate our licensing business in all key markets," said Peter Byrne evp of International at HIT. "It's all part of a major refocus of the company and our aggressive expansion drive into international territories."
Haven Licensing will be HIT's agent for Australia, representing some of the biggest household names in licensing today, including THOMAS & FRIENDS, BOB THE BUILDER, BARNEY and ANGELINA BALLERINA. Commenting on the deal, Tom Punch, md at Haven Licensing said, "We are very excited to be managing some of the biggest pre-school brands in the business and being a major part of the new HIT team."
"Haven is one of the most innovative players in the international licensing arena today, and we look forward to them taking the HIT portfolio of properties to even greater heights in the Australian market," said Byrne.
HIT would also like to announce the following major new licensing relationships in European, South African and the Middle Eastern markets.
Copyright Promotions Europe, the largest independent licensing agency in Europe, will represent a number of HIT properties across its pan European network. They are:
* Italy — BOB THE BUILDER, THOMAS & FRIENDS, PINGU and FIREMAN SAM
* Spain — BOB THE BUILDER
* Portugal — BOB THE BUILDER, THOMAS & FRIENDS and ANGELINA BALLERINA
* France — ANGELINA BALLERINA and PINGU
KIDZ Entertainment, who will represent Fireman Sam across the Nordic regions.
Making its first inroads into the burgeoning Eastern European market, EEMC will take on the rights to THOMAS & FRIENDS in Slovenia and Croatia as HIT ramps up its broadcast presence there.
In Israel, Yooka who will represent BOB THE BUILDER and, for the first time ever, HIT consumer products for BARNEY will be made available in the Middle East by Copyright Licensing.
In South Africa, BOB THE BUILDER will be added to CLM's existing HIT portfolio.
Established in 1989, HIT Ent. (
www.hitentertainment.com ) is one of the world’s leading pre-school children’s entertainment producers and rights owners. With operations in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Japan, the company’s activities span television production and distribution, home entertainment, consumer products, publishing and live events. HIT is now one of the largest children's video distributors in the U.K. and the U.S. With more than 1,000 episodes of young children's programming, HIT sells programs to some 200 territories worldwide.
