– CLT and UFA join forces

LUXEMBOURG: European entertainment companies CLT and UFA have merged. Headquarters for the restructured new entity, renamed CLT-UFA, will be in Luxembourg, with offices in Hamburg, Berlin and Los Angeles.

As a result of the merger, the rights acquisition, co-production and distribution groups of both companies have joined together. Heinz Lehmann, formerly of CLT, will head the acquisition, co-production and distribution activities, except sports, from Luxembourg. Bernd Bauer, formerly of UFA, will head the sports licensing group, headquartered in Hamburg. Wolf Bauer remains in Berlin to head up the UFA Berlin Production Group.

-New projects for revamped Pathé TV

PARIS: Pathé TV has restructured its animation department following the departure of Philippe Levesque, marketing director for domestic and international affairs. Patrig Mabé takes over international affairs and the animation department, with Jean-Marc Desrosiers heading up animation production. Immediately following the announcement, both confirmed the production of two new animated series. Tom & Sheenah (26 x 26 minutes) is an educational jungle adventure initiated by producer Master’s Copyrights for France 3 and Canal+ (France). The group is also in discussions with Scottish TV, ITV (Britain) and Ravensburger (Germany) for the project. The second series, Belphégor, about a detective’s attempts to stop an evil, masked criminal, was developed by the French company Les Armateurs for France’s TF1.

-More kids channels for France

PARIS: The kids programming market is filling up fast with several new kids cable and satellite channels.

Disney Channel’s French version will be officially launched on March 22 on cable and the digital package Canalsatellite Numériqe. This wholly Disney-owned channel will be headed by Philippe Laco and Patrice Blanc-Francard.

AB Group is planning to launch a 24-hour fully animated network on its satellite package AB Sat. At press time, AB had yet to confirm the launch date.

Teletoon, a joint venture between TF1, France 2, France 3 and M6 for their digital satellite package TPS, launched on December 17 and offers subscribers 14 hours of non-violent animation programming daily, aimed at children two to 12 years old. Teletoon dedicates 45 percent of its total airtime to French series, 20 percent to European series and 35 percent to programming from countries outside of Europe.