LONDON: Leading children’s programming distributor ITEL has taken a stake in a new independent licensing company launched in London last month.

ITEL’s ‘significant’ stake in The Licensing Company (TLC) is on behalf of its joint-venture owners United News and Media and HBO. The move ‘is a key strategic investment made for the long term, and we look forward to working with both TLC and its licensors to create new and exciting business opportunities,’ says ITEL chief executive Andrew Macbean.

TLC has been set up by Angela Farrugia and Melvin Thomas with backing from The James Grant Media Group, a U.K. artist management and production company with interests in children’s and light entertainment TV, radio and theater production.

The retail value of licensed products in the U.K. was US$5 billion in 1994. ‘The industry is undergoing a transformation,’ says Thomas. ‘As an agency able to provide service to the rights owners it represents and the manufacturers and retailers with whom it works, TLC is well positioned to be at the forefront of those changes.’