Kids round-up: YouTube Originals scores ‘Supa Strikas’ prequel; HBO Max & Discovery ink Jetpack deals; FilmRise licenses Scholastic shows

Supa Strikas: Rookie Season

YouTube Originals scores ‘Supa Strikas’ prequel

YouTube Originals has picked up Supa Strikas: Rookie Season, a prequel to the soccer animated series Supa Strikas, from the newly-acquired Moonbug Entertainment, in partnership with UNICEF.

The first half of the 12-part series will launch on 3 December on the official Supa Strikas YouTube channel and the YouTube Kids app, with the six remaining episodes rolling out in early 2022.

Supa Strikas: Rookie Season is the original story of star striker, Shakes, and how he made it to the world’s greatest soccer team, the Supa Strikas.

“Who better to partner with on this project than kids production powerhouse Moonbug and the world-renowned children’s organization UNICEF – both align with our shared values of putting kids and their well-being first,” said Nadine Zylstra, head of family, learning and impact for YouTube Originals.

Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!

HBO Max & Discovery ink Jetpack deals

HBO Max, Discovery and Kartoon Channel are among a slew of global broadcasters and platforms to acquire close to 1,000 hours of kids content in deals inked by Jetpack Distribution.

The deals are heavily focused on VOD rights, which Jetpack says is a “testament to the growing demand for VOD content from both platforms and audiences worldwide.”

In Europe, Discovery Italy has bought both linear and SVOD rights for pre-school animation Yoko (seasons one to three), while C+ in France renewed the pay-TV and SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends (seasons one to three) and licensed both rights for Kitty is Not a Cat season one.

Kidzone TV (across the Baltics, Middle East and North Africa) is taking pay-TV and SVOD rights for Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! season one and pay-TV rights for Kazoops, The Sisters season two, Talking Tom & Friends seasons one to three, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis.

Minimax has bought pay-TV and VOD rights across Central Eastern Europe for Oswaldo, and Marsupilami seasons one, two and three, while JimJam has bought the Pay TV and VOD rights for Daisy & Ollie seasons three and four for their pan-Europe feed.

The UK’s Pop has acquired the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, and NRK in Norway is taking the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Welcome to Cardboard City.

Meanwhile, outside of Europe, HBO Max in Latin America has acquired the SVOD rights for Chuggington S6, Talking Tom & Friends seasons four and five, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis seasons one to four.

Semillitas pay-TV Channel and SVOD services in US, Central America and Caribbean ‘Flix Latino’ and ‘Pinguinitos’ has picked up the rights for Chuggington, seasons two and three, while Lingopie, ​​the educational app for language learning based on TV content to learn languages has taken the rights for The Sisters season one (German and Italian), Wolf season one (German and Italian), Talking Tom and Friends (Italian) seasons three, four and five, Yoko season one (Italian).

Toon Goggles in the UK, USA and Canada has bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Daisy and Ollie seasons one and two, Emmy & GooRoo, Kitty is Not a Cat, My Petsaurus seasons one and two,Talking Tom & Friends seasons four and five and Yoko season one.

Tet Sia in Latvia is taking the SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends seasons three to five and Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! seasons one and two; Kartoon Channel in the US and Canada has bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Kitty is Not a Cat season two and Yoko season one and Indonesia’s Mola TV has bought the SVOD rights for Emmy and GooRoo seasons one and two and is renewing Wolf seasons one and two.

FilmRise licenses Scholastic shows

US studio and network FilmRise has taken exclusive English and Spanish-language distribution rights to ninechildren’s shows from Scholastic Entertainment for AVOD and FAST platforms.

The deal covers a total of 230 episodes across the nine shows, which include The Baby-Sitters Club series, Animorphs, Stellaluna, I Spy, Astroblast, Maya Y Miguel, the animated version of Horrible Histories, Dear America, and Dear America: Royal Diaries.

Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise, commented:  “These programs are based on beloved book series that families have embraced over the years.

“Our partnership with Scholastic Entertainment allows FilmRise to share the joy of learning with a new generation of young viewers and families and significantly expands our footprint in the children’s AVOD space.”