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Little Airplane Productions’ new short-form animated series Small Potatoes is rolling into MIPCOM with news of a major pre-sale agreement with Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney in the U.S. The 26 x 3 series has already been sold to CBeebies in the UK, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, ABC TV in Australia, and TVO and Knowledge in Canada. ABC Commercial has also completed a deal for the Australian music and home entertainment rights to the show.
Classic Media’s Tinga Tinga Tales, a co-production with Tiger Aspect Productions in association with HomeBoyz, launched on CBeebies in February and is set for its U.S. debut on Playhouse Disney next spring.
The animated preschool show, inspired by traditional African folktales and the Tinga Tinga art of Tanzania, has announced new international deals, including ABC (Australia), Rai (Italy), Mini Mini (Poland), YLE (Finland), ViaSat 1, Can Family (Ghana), True Visions (Thailand), RTE (Ireland), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), TVB (Hong Kong), JCC Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (Middle East), Canal Panda (Portugal), and France TV (France).
Anchor Bay Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Ludorum’s Chuggington preschool series. Anchor Bay will distribute Chuggington DVDs to both brick and mortar stores and online retailers starting early next year.
Chuggington airs six days a week on Playhouse Disney. The show follows the adventures of three young “trainees” as they learn about life in the train yard and in the world.
Chuggington is broadcast in 175 territories worldwide and premiered in the U.S. in January. Bill Clark and Julie Cartwright negotiated this deal for Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Disney Channel has secured broadcasting rights for the UK animated preschool series, 3rd & Bird!, which will debut in the U.S. during the Playhouse Disney programming block in early 2011. The deal includes all 50 x 10 minute episodes of the series with one double episode, a 20-minute holiday special. Kate Livo, director, TV sales & co-productions for BBC Worldwide, brokered the deal.
Aimed at 3-5 year old children, the series features bold and colorful photo-puppetry, a style of animation created by production company Little Airplane. 3rd & Bird! follows the birds Muffin, Lovebird, and Samuel, and their friend Rudy, as they teach children diversity, tolerance, and perseverance.
3rd & Bird! has been sold to 17 territories, including Canada and Spain. Fisher-Price is currently the master toy licensee for the series and will develop electronic and non-electronic plastic figurines, toys, vehicles, playsets, and plush.
American Greetings Properties (AGP), the intellectual property and outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corporation, has signed new entertainment deals to bring Care Bears entertainment to the UK, Italy, Latin America, Middle East, and Canada. The agreements grant broadcast rights to Cartoon Network in the UK and Italy, Disney in Latin America, and Astral Media’s Playhouse Disney in Canada. Prime Pictures has also been granted home video distribution rights in the Middle East.
Cartoon Network will broadcast the Adventures in Care-a-lot series in both the UK and Italy. This comedy series features new characters such as clumsy-but-hilarious Oopsy Bear, and showcases all of the bears’ newly enhanced belly badge powers.
