Stephanie Graziano, former co-head of TV animation at DreamWorks and co-founder of X-men series creator Graz Entertainment, was recently named the new president of programming, production and development at BKN, which Bohbot Entertainment is calling a new kids ‘network.’ Chairman Allen Bohbot and BKN chairman and CEO Rick Ungar believe the block deserves the distinction because its twelve hours of kids programming will run in pattern on nearly all of the 193 stations airing it, reaching 92% of the U.S. market. As such, promotion of BKN’s kids shows competes directly with promotion of children’s blocks on other established nets. The wannabe network will be divided into two entities-BKN Action Adventure and BKN Cartoon Classics.

In her new post, Graziano will oversee production of BKN Action Adventure’s US$18,700,000 flagship 20 x one-hour series, RosWell Conspiracies-Aliens, Myths and Legends. With a healthy total budget of US$18,700,000 (US$850,000 per episode), the show follows a group of intelligence agents who work together to fight shape-shifting aliens that hunt humans for food and sport. RosWell Conspiracies, targeting kids ages seven to 13, will contain a break that allows it to also be aired as two 30-minute ‘cliffhanger’ segments for broadcasters that prefer the traditional half-hour format.

Other series to be introduced on the action web include an animated co-production with Columbia TriStar that spins off the successful Starship Troopers movie franchise, and Rambo: The Animated Series, the rights for which fell into Bohbot’s hands when it acquired Canal Plus’s animated library this year.

BKN is also looking to acquire a small production company that it plans to build into a 12- to 15-person animation studio.