HIT Entertainment has appointed Sunshine Events as its official live events partner in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The deal sees Sunshine acquire the rights to popular HIT ticketed shows including Barney and Little Big Club. It also acquires live event production and development rights for all other HIT brands including Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Fireman Sam and Pingu. All shows will be available in both Arabic and English.

A new full-length Barney production entitled ‘Let’s Go’ is currently in development and will tour from fall 2012, while additional HIT properties will be featured in smaller mini-shows and ‘meet and greets’ beginning this summer.

Barney and the other HIT brands have proven to be popular in the MENA region with more than US$1million worth of DVDs sold at retail in the past year.