Entertainment Rights tells a tale with its latest acquisition

Just five months after acquiring the Filmation Library for US$20 million, London, England’s Entertainment Rights has swept up Tweenies and Boo! producer Tell-Tale Productions in a US$5.6-million deal. Although BBC Worldwide will retain its rights to the Tweenies property, ER will now collect Tell-Tale’s royalties from the show, as well as future revenues from Boo! To grow the Tell-Tale profit base, Entertainment Rights plans to roll out a Tweenies movie in 2005 or 2006, as well as sending two new shows – BB3B for the BBC and Fun Song Factory for CiTV – into production.

Tell-Tale directors Iain Lauchlan, Will Brenton, Karl Woolley and Helen Cadwallader are sharing the proceeds of the sale and will now work in ER’s creative division. Having sold more than three million videos in the U.K. alone, the Tweenies property has generated US$630 million in worldwide retail revenue to date.

PBS makes way for Noddy’s U.S. debut

Chorion series Make Way For Noddy has found a U.S. home on PBS. Likely to start in fall 2005, the CGI series will air weekly as part of the rotating PBS Kids weekday morning block, as well as on the broadcaster’s 24-hour digital kids channel. PBS has commissioned new segments for each episode that will change the series’ 100 x 10-minute format to 50 x half hours.

Using the show’s PBS placement as a selling point, Chorion has begun negotiating with other key launch partners in areas such as home video and licensing.