Henson Signs New Media Partnerships for ‘Lily's Driftwood Bay’ and ‘Elias: Rescue Team’

Henson Independent Properties concludes a number of broadcast and digital license deals for hit preschool series with Vme TV, POD Worldwide, Media Corp, Tring TV, TG4, MTV Oy, SVT, United Home Entertainment and more.

HOLLYWOOD -- Henson Independent Properties (HIP), The Jim Henson Company’s third party licensing and distribution label, has announced that they have concluded a number of broadcast and digital license deals for the innovative children’s preschool series Lily’s Driftwood Bay and Elias: Rescue Team Adventures. The announcements were made by Richard Goldsmith, EVP, Global Distribution, The Jim Henson Company.

“Henson’s HIP banner continues to amass strong sales across all platforms for the distinctive children’s series Lily’s Driftwood Bay and Elias: Rescue Team Adventures,” remarked Goldsmith. “We’re excited to be going to MIPTV this year to present these titles to potential new partners, in addition to all of our new series from The Jim Henson Company including Dot., Splash and Bubbles and Word Party.”

Vme TV, the first national Spanish-language television network operating in association with public television stations and reaching more than 70 million households in the United States, has acquired exclusive basic cable rights to Elias: Rescue Team Adventures for the U.S. Hispanic market. In Asia, the series was licensed to POD Worldwide, who picked up exclusive free TV rights for Thailand, and Media Corp, who secured exclusive free TV rights. In Eastern Europe, Tring TV has licensed the series for free TV, basic cable and basic satellite in Albania. These agreements are in addition to existing partnerships with Ireland’s TG4, Finland’s MTV Oy and Sweden’s SVT in Europe; and United Home Entertainment for Thailand.

Discovery Education has acquired global educational rights to Lily’s Driftwood Bay, a mixed-media animated series for 4–6 year olds that follows the imaginative adventures of five-year-old Lily.  Additionally, in the U.S., NCircle has acquired DVD rights to the series; in Asia, DAAI TV has acquired the exclusive free TV rights for Indonesia; and Multichoice Africa has acquired non-exclusive SVOD and AVOD rights for Africa.

Elias: Rescue Team Adventures is a CGI animated series for preschoolers featuring Elias, a brave, playful little rescue boat with an enthusiasm for adventure based on the popular children’s picture book by Alf Knutsen and Sigurd Slåttebrekk. Elias teams up with his skillful friends, other vessels in the harbor where he lives, as well as a helicopter named Helinore to save the day. The series features child-sized adventure stories that inspire young children to have fun exploring their own world with confidence and courage while learning important lessons on safety, cooperation, community and bravery. Norway’s Animando produced the series in partnership with the Icelandic animation studio Caoz Animation. 

In Lily’s Driftwood Bay, Lily uses her creativity and imagination to craft wonderful adventures and colorful characters inspired by the extraordinary items that she finds washed ashore on the island where she lives with her father. Created and directed by Colin Williams (Producer of Pajanimals, and Executive Producer of Big and Small) and script edited by Sam Barlow (Thomas and Friends, Bob the Builder), Lily’s Driftwood Bay features a multi-talented voice cast that includes Stephen Fry (QI, The Hobbit), Peter Mullan (Harry Potter, Top of the Lake) and Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones, Good Vibrations, Fortitude).  Storylines encourage children to create their own fun and adventures, finding inspiration from the everyday and unusual items that appear in our lives. The series is produced by Northern Ireland’s Sixteen South.

Source: Henson Independent Properties