Special Event: MIPCOM

aniBoom will present four new animated series at MIPCOM 2008, taking place at Cannes' Palais des Festivals October 13-17.

The series -- ANIMAL NATION, ANGRY DOG, FREESTYLE and SNOWY THE FROSTMAN -- are all hits on aniBoom.com and aniBoom's network of branded Internet channels which, along with their mobile channels, reach more than 300 million viewers worldwide, a community whose comments, rankings and validation translates into significant risk reduction for TV broadcasters looking for new content with an enhanced probability of success.

Nerd Corps' plan for ultimate global takeover (loosely disguised as a television show) continues to gain momentum, as THE LEAGUE OF SUPER EVIL prepares for launch at the MIPCOM Jr. screenings, and readies its online attack plan.

Breakthrough Ent. has closed several broadcast deals for its children's programming with broadcasters, heading into this year's MIPCOM.

ATOMIC BETTY, season three (26x30), has been licensed to Cartoon Network Latin America and THE ADVENTURES OF DUDLEY THE DRAGON (65x30) has been licensed to APTN in Canada.

Amberwood Ent. has appointed 4Kids Ent. as the worldwide merchandise licensing agent and marketing brand manager for its new animated TV series, ROLLBOTS. 4Kids will manage global licensing opportunities, working closely with all licensees of the ROLLBOTS brand, including recently signed master toy licensee Mattel.

ROLLBOTS, a CG animated action-comedy with 26 episodes currently in production, features perfectly round robots with arm and leg appendages that retract, allowing them to roll at extreme speeds on roller-coaster-like tracks through their world, Flip City.

MEDIATOON will present the first episodes of the new CGI series of GARFIELD from French producer Dargaud Media at MIPCOM. American cartoonist Jim Davis, who created the comic strip 30 years ago, is the exec producer. In addition to the world famous comic strip, two blockbuster feature films, TV specials and a large amount of merchandising and Internet content, Garfield strikes again with 52x11 episodes shot in HD.

BabyFirst has formed BFTV Productions, an in-house unit established to produce original television programming expressly for the preschool market.

Now reaching 100 million home worldwide, BabyFirst is a commercial-free 24/7 channel designed for babies and toddlers and their parents. Arik Kerman, SVP of Programming for BabyFirst and the executive responsible the channel's programming, will serve as General Manager of BFTV Productions. Programming produced by BFTV Productions will be offered to preschool broadcasters worldwide.

Gary Wang, founder and CEO of Tudou, China's leading video sharing platform, will deliver a keynote at MIPCOM 2008. The address will be given on Thursday, October 16 within the framework of a day of debate dedicated to the convergence between TV, video sharing online communities and video games. The 24th edition of MIPCOM runs October 13-17 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based Academy Award-winning animation studio has restructured its Marketing, Licensing and International TV Distribution departments, merging them all into a newly formed division called Aardman Rights. The new division is set up to market and sell Aardman content across all media and it will seek to expand its IP portfolio by representing third-party properties.

KIDSCREEN Magazine reports that 80 full-time employees of the newly merged DIC Ent./Cookie Jar Group have been let go. Plans to restructure the company came earlier in August, following the July acquisition.

Most positions were eliminated effectively immediately, according to Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh. Some departures will occur as far away as six months from now to finish up current projects. The company now employs between 230 and 240 people, including staff at CPLG the European licensing agency that was part of the DIC acquisition.

MGM Domestic Television Distribution has acquired an option to develop digital graphic novel THE MANY WORLDS OF JONAS MOORE, a Factory Publishing property, as a possible television series.

4Kids Ent., has licensed the new animated TV series, ROLLBOTS from Amberwood Ent., for broadcast in the United States in The CW 4Kids Saturday morning block on The CW Network.