Toei Animation, Inc. has finalized a broadcast licensing agreement with YTV in Canada for the first season of PRETTY CURE, an animated series that follows the adventures of two young girls who become best friends and fight the evil forces of Dark Zone.
The series will launch on YTV in the first quarter of 2009.
TV5MONDE, the only 24-hour French language cable network in U.S., will be premiering the adaptation of popular comic, ASTERIX ET LES VIKINGS, at 8:30 p.m. on December 25.
Adapted from the original comic, Asterix and Obelix are entrusted with the responsibility of turning Chief Vitalstatistix's cowardly nephew, Justforkix, into a man. When Justforkix is kidnapped, the duo must rescue him, but find that he has fallen in love with one of his Viking captors.
Kids and family entertainment specialist DECODE Enterprises, the distribution subsidiary of DHX Media Ltd., has signed two major deals for KID VS. KAT (52x11 or 26x22), an animated series produced by Studio B Productions in association YTV Canada and Jetix Europe.
Nickelodeon South East Asia has acquired the show alongside a deal with ABC in Australia, bringing the series into brand new territories. KID VS. KAT is also set to air on YTV in Canada, Jetix Europe and Jetix U.S.
What is it about Italians? Give any of them a microphone and invite them to speak and they immediately turn into the best public speakers known to man. Joking, calling out to the audience, laughing, and then delivering interesting insight and banter. This is I Castelli Animati.
The Walt Disney Company, through one of its subsidiaries, and Media-One Holdings Limited, a broadcaster operating assets in the regions of Russia, are forming a joint venture to launch a Disney-branded television channel in Russia.
Award-winning Scottish actor Robert Carlyle (TRAINSPOTTING, THE FULL MONTY) has been cast in the leading role of Dr. David Rush on Sci Fi's new original series, STARGATE UNIVERSE, the latest adventure in the Stargate franchise produced by MGM television. Production will begin in Vancouver in February 2009 with an eye toward a summer 2009 premiere. Additional casting is currently underway.
The reigning queen of preschool TV will take tots on a new half-hour prime-time adventure in "Dora Saves Three Kings Day," premiering Tuesday, Jan. 6, (Three Kings Day), at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Nickelodeon. In this first-ever Three Kings Day-themed episode of DORA, preschoolers will learn about an important Hispanic cultural tradition as they help Dora find the animals that have run away with the presents and treats for the big Three Kings Day party.
French animation company Xilam is set for a happy Christmas with three of their series airing in France over the holiday period.
Canal+ is scheduled to premiere the first four episodes of Xilam's epic animated adventure series RAHAN, from December 22-26. Set in a pre-historic world, RAHAN is based on a famous French comic, created by Roger Lecureux and drawn by Andre Cheret, which has developed a vast pan-European fan base. The series, aimed at 7-13 year olds, is produced by Xilam, in association with Castelrosso Films (Italy).
Kids' CBC has renewed Cookie Jar Ent.'s series, BUSYTOWN MYSTERIES (HURRAY FOR HUCKLE!) and will begin airing season two in 2009. Inspired by the classic works of best-selling children's author, Richard Scarry, BUSYTOWN MYSTERIES (HURRAY FOR HUCKLE!) was one of the two top-rated preschool series on CBC's weekday morning lineup for the month of October.
BUSYTOWN MYSTERIES (HURRAY FOR HUCKLE!) blends humor and learning by following the lives of six unforgettable characters who try to solve everyday life mysteries in Busytown.
The fantasy comic series FABLES, from DC Comics, got a pilot commitment from ABC, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Published by DC's Vertigo imprint and created by Bill Willingham, the story follows characters from fairy tales and folklore living in exile in modern-day New York. Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner are writing the hourlong pilot script at Warner Bros. TV. The duo won't say yet which characters will be featured in the TV series, but Big Bad Wolf and Snow White will have a similar central role in the show as they do in the comics.
Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi reported Thursday night that the massive layoffs at Viacom (850 employees across all sectors) mean the entire Nickelodeon Digital Animation Studios division in New York is closing. The productions housed there will continue mostly intact, but will likely be moved to different locations or be outsourced.
Nickelodeon runs the last remaining network animation studio on the East Coast, so the closing of the Times Square-adjacent office is a blow to the New York animation community.
Mediatoon has inked several new TV and video rights deals, for its series THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, featuring amusing stories produced in HD and loveable characters, such as Dougal and Zebedee.
Italia 1 (Italy), TV2 (Norway), YLE (Finland), TRT (Turkey), EESTI (Estonia) and Al Jazeera (Middle East) have snapped up the preschool show.
HIT Ent. and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), the first national aboriginal television network in the world, have partnered to launch THE PINGU SHOW this fall during the APTN Kids programming block. This is the first time that HIT has partnered with the network that reaches approximately 10 million households across Canada.
APTN will air 74 episodes of THE PINGU SHOW in English and French.
Offering a refreshing departure from typical monster stories, Lincoln Butterfield Animation will debut R.I.P. M.D. at next month's NATPE '09 Market & Conference. The new animated series concept, which takes a comical look at the real-life problems of monsters, comes from veteran animation producer Mitch Schauer, creator of THE ANGRY BEAVERS. NATPE attendees interested in snagging a first look at R.I.P. M.D. may visit the Lincoln Butterfield booth (#612).
Sundance Channel unveiled a refreshed network look on December 3, to coincide with the launch of its new original series SPECTACLE, ELVIS COSTELLO WITH... The updated look has been designed by Buster and will eventually extend to all graphic design related to the network including its website.
Contender Entertainment Group and Studio AKA's adaptation of the much loved Oliver Jeffers book LOST AND FOUND, published by Harper Collins, is due to be broadcast on Channel 4 in the U.K. this Christmas. The 25-minute animated film will be screened on Christmas Eve and again on Boxing Day.
On the heels of MIPCOM 2008, 4Kids Ent. has finalized licensing agreements with broadcasters in France and the U.K. for the first season of CHAOTIC.
CHAOTIC (Season One) is scheduled to launch on Gulli TV in France, Rede TV in Brazil and Jetix in the U.K., beginning first quarter 2009.
The property's second season, CHAOTIC: M'ARRILLIAN INVASION, has also been renewed by Teletoon in Canada and Jetix in Latin America. Broadcast sales of the series in Germany, Italy and other markets are expected to close by end of the calendar year.
The MoonScoop Group's Taffy Ent. has secured a deal with Virgin 17 to bring season two of the acclaimed anime TV series BLEACH to France, beginning early 2009.
Sci Fi Channel has greenlit production on the new original series CAPRICA, ordering 20 hours of the drama including the two-hour pilot. CAPRICA is the prequel to Sci Fi's hit original series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and stars Eric Stoltz (MILK, CHICAGO HOPE), Esai Morales (JERICHO, NYPD BLUE), Paula Malcomson (DEADWOOD, ER) and Golden Globe nominee Polly Walker (CANE, ROME).
Leopoldo Gout and Susan Holden of Curious Pictures have directed an exciting new original animated holiday special entitled LITTLE SPIRIT: CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK, which will air on NBC Wednesday, December 10 from 8-9 p.m. and will feature the voices of Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu, Freddy Rodriguez, Brian Williams and Brenda Song. The music is by Duncan Sheik with Christmas classics sung by Faith Hill. This unique program stylistically blends the look of traditional painting with contemporary 3-D technology -- creating an aesthetic that is both classic and innovative.
Contender Entertainment Group has sold children's puppet-and-animation-based show IT'S A BIG BIG WORLD to television channels in four major territories.
Contender, the company behind preschool properties PEPPA PIG and TRACTOR TOM, holds the international rights for the hit PBS Kids show, which has now secured slots on DR Denmark, YLE Finland, Canal+ Cyfrowy Poland and Al Jazeera Kids in the Middle East.
Endemol has partnered with Kuwait-based publishing group Teshkeel Media to bring to life a new animated series based on its popular superhero comic books, THE 99.
THE 99 comic book series launched in 2006 and is illustrated and scripted by former and current Marvel and DC Comics writers and artists whose credits include X-MEN, SPIDER-MAN, SUPERMAN, IRON MAN, BATMAN and POWER RANGERS.
U.K. children's television producer Coolabi Productions has begun production on the second season of THE LARGE FAMILY (26x11) for transmission in the U.K. and France.
Based on the best-selling books by Jill Murphy, the 2D cel animated series chronicles the domestic chaos of an all-too-human elephant family, and proved a massive hit with viewers when it launched in October 2007, the first season becoming one of the best rated shows on Cbeebies in the UK and TF1 in France. The series also started airing on Disney Channel France in October 2008.
The National Football League, 3ality Digital and RealD will join forces to test a 3-D broadcast experience that could create a new home viewing standard for televised sports. The first-ever live broadcast of an NFL game in full digital 3-D format, being made available December 4 to select audiences in three U.S. cities, is designed to immerse viewers in the game as never before.
Nickelodeon delivers a bounty of primetime presents to make kids and tweens merry throughout the month of December, including seven all-new seasonal specials and an array of holiday favorites.
