Kids round-up: Blue Ant expands on Roku; Sky strikes Moonbug SVOD deal; Dandelooo to sell ‘Kosmix’; and more…

Kooki’s Crafty Show

Blue Ant expands kids nature presence on Roku

International media company Blue Ant Media has launched three new family and kid-friendly linear channels on The Roku Channel in the US; Love Nature, Love Nature Español and ZooMoo.

Love Nature (and Love Nature Español) is a family-friendly wildlife and nature brand and includes programming including 7 x 60-minute series Secrets Of Wild Australia, 6 x 60-minute show Animal Empires and the 3 x 60-minute series Land Of Gremlins.

ZooMoo Networks, a joint venture with AT&T’s DirectTV Latin America, is an interactive children’s nature broadcaster with programming comprised of over 500 hours of original content, combining wildlife footage with puppetry, animations and narration to create a viewing and learning experience for pre-school viewers. It’s line-up includes the 26 x 11-minute creative crafting show Kooki’s Crafty Show and the 32 x 11-minute live action puppet series Lost.

The deal is part of Roku’s expansion of its free live/linear channel lineup, which now offers more than 100 free channels to its users.

“Blue Ant Media’s partnership with Roku is an important step in our AVOD expansion in the US market because it allows us to introduce our suite of premium brands to one of the largest and most engaged streaming audiences in the world,” said Ward Platt, CEO, kids & global networks, Blue Ant Media.

Moonbug launches SVOD channel on UK’s Sky

Global children’s entertainment company Moonbug, which develops and distributes “values-based” content for kids, has launched its own SVOD channel on Sky-owned Sky Kids in the UK and Ireland.

Viewers with Sky will be able to access the Moonbug channel, which includes shows like Little Baby Bum, Go Buster, Dr Poppy’s Pet Rescue and its first original series, Mia’s Magic Playground.

“As the largest platform in Europe, millions of new viewers and subscribers in the UK and Ireland now have access to our most beloved characters and content through our dedicated Moonbug channel. We are excited to extend our partnership with Sky and continue to further our growth and positioning as a curator of high-quality brands,” said Nicolas Eglau, head of EMEA, Moonbug.

Kosmix

Dandelooo picks up one show, launches another

French animation production and distribution house Dandelooo has picked up Czech prodco Krutart’s new preschool series Kosmix for distribution, while its own co-pro, Stinky Dog, is set to launch.

The 26 x 5-minute astronomy series for kids, Kosmix, is co-produced by Krutart and Czech pubcaster Czech Television. It follows the adventures of Kit, a curious little robot who is exploring the universe to make a space travel TV show.

The completed animation series Stinky Dog, commissioned by France Televisions, is set to launch, with two episodes airing on the SVOD platform OKOO this month.

Co-produced by Dandelooo, Folivari, France, Belgian production company Panique! and Catalan animation studio Pikkukala, Stinky Dog is based on the series of books written by Colas Gutman.

The 52 x 13-minute series follows the comical adventures of “maverick mutt” Stinky Dog and his best friend Flatty Cat, a couple of oddballs who live in a garbage can.

Kartoon Channel slate announced

US-based Genius Brands International has announced the upcoming programming slate for its new digital Kartoon Channel!

The channel launched this week across multiple AVOD and OTT platforms, including Apple TV devices, Android, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku devices and Xumo.

Among the content available to viewers is the animated short feature The Pig On The Hill, the Angry Birds series and Baby Einstein.

The upcoming animated comedy-adventure series, Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, which is currently in pre-production and will star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently become a “significant” investor in the company, will debut on the channel early next year.

Genius Brands International just today announced that John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers) will direct the series and has also joined the company’s development team to help create a live-action series and feature film spin-off from the show.

Andy Heyward, Genius Brands CEO, said. “I am not aware of seeing another channel launch with such a volume of content, across such a broad range of platforms, penetrating virtually the entire United States TV Household universe. We are loading our episodes as fast as possible across all platforms and expect to have over 4,000 episodes available by the end of this month.”

Berry Bees

‘Berry Bees’ enjoys global sales

VRT in Belgium, AMC Networks International and Minika in Turkey have picked up children’s animation Berry Bees for broadcast, following new deals with Italy’s production and distribution house Atlantyca Entertainment.

Distribution rights are shared by the production companies. Atlantyca maintains the worldwide distribution rights, with Cosmos-Maya overseeing Asia, SLR Productions handling Australia and New Zealand and Telegael managing rights for Ireland and the UK.

The 52 x 12-minute series, which premiered on Italy’s FTA channel Rai Gulp, is a spy action series following three talented 10-year-olds who are recruited to become child secret agents.

The first season has been sold to several new broadcast partners to VRT for broadcast on its Ketnet for the channel, while AMC Networks International will broadcast the series on Minimax across central and northern Europe, in countries including Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. In Turkey, it will air on children’s channel Minika.

The series is also currently available on Rai’s digital platform Rai Play and has aired on Australia’s Nine Network 9GO and on the online streaming service Stan.

“We are thrilled with the response we are getting to this wonderfully adventurous series” said Alessandra Dematteis, Atlantyca distribution manager. “This series celebrates the power of girls, the excitement of special operations filled with eye-catching animation a perfect entertainment combination for kids during these difficult times.”