files/pictures/picture-35.jpgPorchLight Ent. has announced that Discovery Kids and Jetix Europe have ordered 13 new episodes of the Emmy award-winning animated series, TUTENSTEIN. The new episodes are scheduled for delivery in 2006. Discovery Kids Channel and Jetix Europe are the series’ partners in the U.S. and Europe respectively. In the U.S., Tutenstein airs on the Discovery Kids channel and the Discovery Kids Saturday morning block on NBC.
“TUTENSTEIN is fun, innovative and captures the attention of the young viewers,” said Bruce Johnson, PorchLight’s ceo and series exec producer. “To that end, Discovery Kids has cleverly maximized the brand and series ‘attitude’ even further with an exceptional interactive website that keeps the kids tuned in. We are thrilled that they want to expand the series and its tune-in marketability even further with their order of additional episodes.”
“As our first animated series, TUTENSTEIN has helped define what this genre means for Discovery Kids,” said Marjorie Kaplan, evp/gm, Discovery Kids. “Thanks to its many strengths, TUTENSTEIN has become as fun and entertaining as any animated series while maintaining our need to provide the kind of compelling real world information that our audience craves.”
The series combines ancient Egyptian mythology with contemporary, urban humor and attitude. Its goal is to accurately portray the diverse Egyptian mythology, utilizing stories and characters that reflect the lives of kids today. In order to do so, PorchLight’s production team works closely with Dr. Peter Lacovara, the series’ Egyptology consultant who authenticates the Egyptian content.
As with the first 26 episodes, Jetix Europe has also acquired free TV distribution rights for the new episodes for Europe and the Middle East. In addition to airing on the Jetix Europe network, to date the first Tutenstein series is sold to the following leading broadcasters: RAI in Italy, ITV in the UK, ARD in Germany, France 5, Antena 3 in Spain, SIC in Portugal, CTC in Russia, RTE in Ireland, RTL Klub in Belgium, and ORF in Austria as well as to broadcasters in Croatia, Bulgaria and the Ukraine. PorchLight also sold the series to ABC in Australia and SABC in South Africa.
“We are pleased that our initial sales strategy has aligned us with such an eminent network and partner as Jetix,” said William Baumann, PorchLight’s coo and series exec producer. “Clearly with the increase in the episode order and the excellent ratings for the series, we have a solid cornerstone from which we can expand the TUTENSTEIN global brand.”
Michael Lekes, svp of programming Jetix Europe adds, “We're delighted to acquire new episodes of TUTENSTEIN, a series which typifies the more comedic end of our programming spectrum, while retaining the Jetix values of adventure, fantasy, and a cheeky kid hero — even if he is 4,000 years deceased in this instance!"
As well as leading TUTENSTEIN’s production, PorchLight holds all TV rights in Asia, Africa and Canada and the free TV rights in South America. It also holds the worldwide video and licensing rights, excluding North and South America where Discovery communications represents the Pay TV, video and licensing rights.
Los Angeles-based PorchLight Ent., (
www.porchlight.com ) is a multi-faceted company focused on the production and distribution of family entertainment.
