APC Kids — the children’s distribution arm of About Premium Content — has scored a slew of deals for its animated series Kid-E-Cats, which follows three kittens with wild imaginations and endless enthusiasm, Cookie, Pudding and little sis Candy. The show will be heading to broadcast on YLE (Finland), TG4 (Ireland), TV Puls (Poland) and Knowledge Network (Canada). Based on a ratings-winning Russian series from CTC Media and Studio Metrafilm, Kid-E-Cats international makeover is produced by APC Kids with Nigel Pickford as exec producer and Ceri Barnes (Floogals, Postman Pat) as story editor.
Bejuba! Entertainment goes into this year’s MIPCOM with a raft of deals set: Preschool series Origanimals has sold to Gloob (Brazil), BeIn Jr. (Middle East), RTP (Portugal), ZainaMan (Kuwait) and LTV (Taiwan). Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave, commissioned by CBeebies and Sprout, has sold to ZooMoo (Latin America), SVT (Sweden), TVO (Canada), BBC Worldwide and UYoung (China). Big Block SingSong 3, a CBC Canada commission created by Goddard/Brown Prod., is headed to Disney in the US, Australia & Japan, and ABC (Australia). Pre-k 5-minute series Olly the Little White Van, which airs on Milkshake in the UK, has also sold to UYoung, as well as ATV (Turkey) and Spacetoons (UAE). Comedy toon Wishfart continues to attract interest, with more deals TBA. Bejuba! has also picked up live-action factual series Where in the World? from Evans Woolfe Media.
Australia’s BES Animation and Jetpack Distribution have inked several new platform deals for Kitty Is Not a Cat (52 x 12′ or 26 x half-hour; Kids 6-10), which debuted at MIP Junior in 2016. The animated series is about brave, imaginative little girl named Kitty and the household of partying felines who take responsibility for teaching her how to be a human when she turns up on their doorstep. Now on board are DeAgostini Editore in Italy and Disney in Central & Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and Turkey. Co-investment partner 7 Network in Australia will launch the show in 2018. Jetpack stand #P-1A92 (UK Pavilion); www.kittyisnotacat.com.
Mattel, Inc. took center stage Saturday for the MIP Junior World Premiere TV Screening for its new, refreshed (26 x 11′) series Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!, premiering globally Fall 2018. The revamp of the evergreen brand will feature faster-paced, 7-minute stories with more humor and fantasy sequences, plus 4 minutes of sing-along songs and life lessons from Thomas. A roster of new characters (including the first African steam engine from Kenya, Nia; Ashima from India; Yong Bao from China; and Shane from Australia) will join Thomas, now narrating his own stories, on their first adventures outside Sodor to experience cultures and countries around the world. BWBA also features a new main title song.
Digital distributor and content management company MoMedia has signed new deals that will bring several legacy and digital-first animation brands into new territories. Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has tapped the London-based co. for the first time, to represent the first series of Babar and the Adventures of Badou (26 x 24′) and Little Charmers (80 x 11′) for both local and worldwide SVOD platforms; both shows have already been placed on Viaplay Nordic. Africa’s MTN Group, meanwhile, has snagged a package of high-profile kids’ brands for its 230 million subscribers in 20 countries — including Outfit7’s Talking Tom and Friends, Zinkia Ent.’s Pocoyo, Hasbro’s Transformers, Calm Island’s Badanamu and CMP’s Sinbad & the 7 Galaxies. www.momediatv.com.
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