Abu Dhabi government media initiative twofour54 has inked a broadcasting deal with US 24-hour digital cable preschool television channel Sprout to air children’s TV series Driver Dan’s Story Train.

Sprout has ordered the first 52 episodes of the preschool series, which will air starting from November 2010. The deal is timed with twofour54’s creation of an interactive English and Arabic-language Driver Dan website for as part of its plans to grow the brand internationally and specifically in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

On the retail front, the first range of Driver Dan’s Story Train books recently hit UK shelves, following twofour54’s recent global publishing deal with Macmillan Children’s Books to produce character-based board books, paperback stories and activity books in multiple languages including Arabic and English. Production of the Arabic version of Driver Dan by partner company Blink Studios is also due to complete end of this summer.

The deals were concluded by twofour54 ibtikar, a division that provides media and entertainment industry funding and support for start-up and early stage Arabic businesses and individuals.