London-based distributor Jetpack is blasting off with seven new international broadcast deals, as broadcasters worldwide work to fill the programming gaps left by COVID-19.
First up, WarnerMedia-owned channels Cartoon Network and Boomerang have picked up seasons four and five of Outfit 7’s animated comedy Taking Tom and Friends (156 x 11 minutes) , as well as its spinoff Talking Tom Heroes (52 x five minutes), to air in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
AMC Networks International (Central and Northern Europe), picked up pay-TV and VOD rights for five seasons of Talking Tom and Friends and corresponding 60 x three-minute shorts for its pay TV kids channel Minimax in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. This deal was signed last week, and the shows will start airing in May.
In Germany, free-to-air TV network Super RTL acquired SVOD rights to Talking Tom Heroes, and German free-to-air channel KIKA acquired free-to-air rights for Paris-based Samka Productions’ four to nine-skewing 2D-animated comedy Wolf (156 x seven minutes). Jetpack inked the deal with Super RTL last month, with shows beginning to air in May, while the KIKA deal was signed at the end of 2019, with no air date lined up yet.
Growing its animated slate, Discovery Kids (MENA) acquired the pay-TV rights for season three of Daisy & Ollie, and season two of Emmy & Gooroo, and Malaysian studio Lil Critter Workshop’s 2D-animated series Buck & Buddy (pictured). Jetpack signed the deal in January, and the shows began airing this week.
In the UK, British free-to-air channel CITV also picked up Buck & Buddy (60 x five minutes).
International broadcast network United Media bought the rights to all seasons of Emmy and Gooroo, seasons one to four of preschool live-action series Our Family for kids channel Pikaboo, as well as seasons one to three of live-action series The Cul De Sac, and seasons one and two of comedy animation Barefoot Bandits for teen-skewing channel Vavoom. The shows will air on the channels in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
COVID-19 has been a major disruptor for broadcasters worldwide, as live-action productions halt and demand for content continues to increase with so many kids and families stuck-at-home. In the short term, broadcasters have increasingly been asking to see Jetpack’s entire catalogue of content, CEO Dominic Gardiner previously told Kidscreen.