Nelvana reaches deal with Teletoon

Toronto, Canada-based animation studio NELVANA Enterprises (Booth 1910) has reached a deal with cable and satellite channel TELETOON France giving the broadcaster 200 half-hours of animation programming per year from NELVANA. The shows that TELETOON acquired in the deal include: “The Dumb Bunnies,” “Robin,” “Birdz,” “Bob and Margaret,” “Franklin,” “Tales from the Cryptkeeper” and “Little Bear.” TELETOON has committed to co-produce one project per year with NELVANA commencing with “Flying Rhino Junior High” and are already looking at a development slate of new French/Canadian projects. In another major move, NELVANA announced that its animated series “Franklin” will move to U.S. specialty service Nickelodeon from CBS Television. Subsequently, NELVANA’s “Rupert,” currently airing on Nickelodeon, will move to CBS Television replacing “Franklin” as part of CBS’s Saturday morning lineup for the balance of the current broadcast season. Michael Hirsh, Co-CEO of NELVANA Limited, stated, “This agreement is like a very good baseball trade...” In addition, NELVANA’s NATPE slate is very expansive with new programming such as “George & Martha” (HBO Family Channel), “Elliot Moose,” “Redwall,” “Ricky the Rhino” and “Really Rosie;” as well as current programming including “Dumb Bunnies (CBS), “Ned’s Newt” (Fox), “Bob and Margaret” (Comedy Central), “Rolie Polie Olie” (Disney Channel) and “Donkey Kong Country” (Fox Family Channel).