Cynopsis: Kids!

03/24/09

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 24, 2009, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

Cartoon Network is teaming up with the NBA to develop long and short-form basketball-themed content across a multiple platforms (e.g. online, mobile, VOD and on-air). The partnership and builds on Turner Broadcasting’s 25+/year relationship with the NBA.  The deal tips-off with Cartoon Network developing the new short-form series, My Dad’s a Pro, which follows the kids of NBA players and will bow with the beginning of NBA season in fall 2009.  Also launching this fall will be a basketball-themed area on CartoonNetwork.com that will feature a mix of multimedia content.

UK-based Walker Productions, a unit of kid’s publisher the Walker Books, partners with Ireland’s JAM Media and author/illustrator Polly Dunbar to develop a TV series based on Dunbar’s preschool picture book series Tilly and Friends.  The US editions are published by Candlewick Press, part of the Walker group, and publishers in France, Germany, Norway and Japan have all signed up to Tilly and Friends, with more deals to be announced this year.

MORE KIDS STUFF

The new preschool animated series Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom (52×11) makes its world premiere on Nick Jr. UK on Monday, April 6, 2009 and will air daily at 7:30a and 4:30p.  Produced by animation company Astley Baker Davies and E1 Kids UK (f/k/a Rubber Duck Entertainment), Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom follows the adventures of Princes Holly (a Fairy) and her best pal Ben Elf in the mini kingdom hidden in the flowers and grass.  The series will air across Nickelodeon networks around the world.

ABC will air the Peanuts specials It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown All Stars back-to-back on Tuesday, April 8-9p.  Charlie Brown All Stars has not aired on TV since spring 1982, when it ran on CBS.  Hey, and worth noting here is that Peanuts celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2010.

BBC Worldwide completes sale of the preschool series In the Night Garden to Chinese Central Television (CCTV).  Under the deal CCTV acquires all 100 episodes In the Night Garden, which will launch on CCTV in the second half of 2009.  In the Night Garden is produced by Ragdoll Productions.  Additionally, UYoung is appointed as licensing agent for In the Night Garden responsible for developing a comprehensive licensing program, with the first product lines set to launch this year.

PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! celebrate Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, with the fourth annual PBS Kids Share the Earth Day and a new web-based Earth Day Channel on pbskidsgo.org.  The on-air event features premiere episodes Cyberchase, Curious George and Arthur, and themed episodes of Super Why!, Sid the Science Kid among others.  Eco-centric content and activities will be featured online at pbskidsgo.org, pbskids.org, PBS Parents and PBS Teachers.  Additionally, the new PBS Kids Go! video player will host an Earth Day channel with themed content from Arthur, Design Squad, and Maya & Miguel, as well as web-exclusive sites such as Eekoworld, where kids can create and monitor their own creatures in the wild, and The Greens, a web-based series about the Green family and sustainability/ecology/environment/being green.

Televix Entertainment signs broadcast deals in Central and South America for Amberwood Entertainment‘s CGI animated series RollBots (26×30).  Coming out of NATPE 2009, RollBots has been picked up by Medcom TV (Panama), Televicentro (Nicaragua) and ZAZ, a Pay-TV broadcaster operated by MVS Networks covering Spanish-speaking Latin America.  The RollBots TV series made its premiere on YTV (Canada), with the simultaneous launch of the online gaming world at RollBots.com. 4Kids Entertainment is the worldwide merchandise licensing agent for the property, and also holds the US broadcast rights for the series, which will air on TheCW4kids Saturday morning programming block.

CCI Releasing inks a range of broadcast pacts for the teen-targeted movie Alice Upside Down including deals with: YTV (Canada); Disney Latin America; Starz (US); Globo TV (Brazil); Disney (Scandinavia) (Australia and New Zealand); Epelpol Entertainment (Poland); Falcon Films (Middle East) and Noga (Israel).  Further deals for Alice Upside Down are also in the world for France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, and another in the US.  Produced by Alice Partnership, organized by Open Pictures and Avondale Entertainment Production, Alice Upside Down stars Alyson Stoner (Camp Rock, Cheaper By The Dozen), Lucas Grabeel (the High School Musical movies) and Luke Perry and Penny Marshall among others.  The movie is based on Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s books about Alice, a tween, who moves to a new town with her dad and teenaged brother.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Atlantyca Entertainment has entered into a publishing deal with Chinese publishing houses, 21st Century to publish 60 titles in the Geronimo Stilton book series for release throughout Mainland China.  21st Century will publish an initial 10 titles during the local Chinese Festival for children, just before the Children’s Day, June 1, 2009.  The first titles under the deal include: Attack of The Bandit Cats, The Mona Mouse Code, Four Mice Deep In the Jungle and Surf’s Up, Stilton.

Disney Online is launching a French language version of Club Penguin for Francophone kids.  Founded in British Columbia in 2004, the new French language Club Penguin site is supported by a French speaking staff in Europe and Canada.  In addition to being available in English and now French, the virtual world is also in Portuguese, with a Spanish version launching this summer.

STONE SOUP

The Intellectual Property Office (f/k/a the Patent Office), Aardman Animations, SGA Productions and the Science Museum are partnering to launch Wallace & Gromit present A World of Cracking Ideas, which opens at the Science Museum in London on Saturday, March 28. The exhibition is designed to inspire a new generation of innovators.  The almost $3m exhibition has been funded by the Intellectual Property Office, and designed and built for Aardman Animation by SGA Productions in association with IY A Studios.  This furthers the relationship between Intellectual Property Office and Aardman who have worked together for the last three years on the UK Cracking Ideas competition, which encourages schoolchildren to innovate.  Aardman is considering other venues for the exhibition after it closes in London in November.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Activision Publishing names Dan Rosensweig as President and CEO, RedOctane, the unit that develops the Guitar Hero and upcoming DJ Hero.  Formerly COO, Yahoo!, Rosensweig will report directly to Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing. Kai Huang, former President and CEO, RedOctane, who along with his brother Charles Huang created Guitar Hero, will continue working at RedOctane reporting to Rosensweig.  Rosensweig currently serves as a partner at Quadrangle Group, a private investment firm.

Debra Lande is named Publisher, Klutz.  Lande takes up her new post at the end of the month, and will report to Ellie Berger, President/Trade Publishing, Scholastic, and will work in tandem with John Cassidy, CCO/Klutz.  Most recently, Lande was Director/Production Innovation, Chronicle Books.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, March 19, 2009, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1096; K6-11 505; TWEENS 9-14 389
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11   832; K6-11 509; TWEENS 9-14 383
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   532; K6-11 321; TWEENS 9-14 219
DISNEY XD:               K2-11   162; K6-11 101; TWEENS 9-14   78
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Animated mice Pixie & Dixie were seen on what classic TV cartoon series?  HUCKLEBERRY HOUND  Kudos to:  Joseph Streich-StrikeforceNY/NY; Marc J. Beck-MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL/New York; Dusty Ratledge-Scripps Networks/Knoxville; Joshua Fierman-O’Dwyer PR/New York; Richard Quan-Imaginary Time/San Francisco

Today’s Trivia Question: Besides Cynthia Turner, who has a doll named Cynthia? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Later — Gwen
 Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
03.24.09

Cynopsis Kids Ad Sales:
Chuck Bolkcom – 646-468-6180 / [email protected]
Mark Bohn- 203-583-1224 / [email protected]
Classifieds – Trish Pihonak- 203-926-9878 / [email protected]

To subscribe to any Cynopsis edition(s) click here. 
To unsubscribe, click here or click the button at the end of this email.

Cynopsis CLASSIFIEDS – For More classifieds, visit the Cynopsis.com classifieds page here   .

JOB OPENING: DVLPMT EXEC: Creative/aggressive for PT rsrch & dvlpmnt. Exp’d in shaping raw ideas into breakout formats. Knwldgbl of cable TV programming with experience in creating shows. Resumes: [email protected] (3/31)

JOB OPENING: VP/SVP CONSUMER/NY: Beauty/Entertainment PR account. Manage large consumer packaged goods biz. Prior exp managing large $1mil+ accounts. Relationships in ent/beauty world a must. Apply: [email protected] (3/28)

JOB OPENING: SR. DIR, CLIENT DEVELOPMENT/NY/Ent-Media research co: Develop new/expand existing biz for research prod/custom services. Min 3 yrs market research sales exp. http://www.epollresearch.com/corp/aboutus/careers.view (2/27)

JOB OPENING: BET/NY/ADSALES-EXEC ASST: 5+yrs. exp. Must be det. oriented & have ability to multi-task in fast paced environment. Proficient in MS Word/Excel/PP. Exc oral/written skills. Email: [email protected] (3/25)

JOB OPENING: FREELANCE PROMOTION COORDINATOR, INT’L MKT SVCS /AETN, NY: Coordinating promo materials. Strong communication, flexibility & org skills. Basic editing(Final Cut Pro). Apply: www.aetn.com/careers.html (3/25)

INTERNSHIPS – These positions are for credit only – nobody gets paid here. These ads are always posted for free, and students work for school credit only. For more information on the specs for posting an Internship ad, email Trish at [email protected].

SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: MKTG/ON-AIR: Fox Reality Channel-LA – summer intern for mktg & on-air production. 30-40 hrs/wk. Majors: Mktg, Adv, PR/Comm, TV/Film. Skills: Writing & computer; On-Air Pro/Avid a plus. [email protected] (3/27)

SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: Multiplatform media company seeks organized and energetic intern for fast-paced, lifestyle entertainment company, email [email protected] with Intern in subject line. (3/27)

SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED …  There is no charge for placing your Situation Wanted ad … for more information contact Trish Pihonak at [email protected]

SITUATION WANTED: PROJ/OPS MGR: NYC Seeking the opp to work in on-air promos again, but open to other opps as well. Sev yrs cable on-air promo/new media & adops exp. Mang day-to-day ops of projs & campgs. [email protected] (3/31)

SITUATION WANTED: RESEARCH DIRECTOR Save money over a full time director. Let’s talk.20+ yrs Media, Nielsen, Hispanic, & Sales experience. Email: [email protected] (3/31)

SITUATION WANTED: INTERACTIVE MEDIA SPECIALIST: LA. Newly available w/18 yrs of media experience & MBA. Need high-performance campaigns integrating online & non-traditional media? Avail F/P or freelance. [email protected] (3/31)

SITUATION WANTED: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE (NY) TV Ad Sales prof. seeks full-time media sales job. 5 years experience w/ stations (ABC, CBS, NBC) in top markets. Would like to stay in media, but open to opps. Email [email protected] for resume (3/28)

SITUATION WANTED: REALITY EDITOR in L.A. Credits: MTV, VH1, A&E, E!, Oxygen, Style. Avid & FC. Contact email: [email protected] (3/27)

SITUATION WANTED: CREATIVE PRODUCER/NY looking for immed opp-22 yrs exp in series prod for Nick, Animal Planet, Discovery. Proven pro, innovator, skilled, hardworking. Develop, write, produce content for all media [email protected] (3/27)

SITUATION WANTED: Recent graduate educated & experienced in audio, video, & television production. Very passionate and hard working; looking to get my foot in the door. Contact: Griffin Campbell 9082682078/[email protected] (3/27)

SITUATION WANTED: MKTG/ON-AIR: Fox Reality Channel-LA – summer intern for mktg & on-air production. 30-40 hrs/wk. Majors: Mktg, Adv, PR/Comm, TV/Film. Skills: Writing & computer; On-Air Pro/Avid a plus. [email protected] (3/26)
 
SITUATION WANTED: STORY DOCTOR: Is your Post Beast screaming to be fed? Or is it clogged with scripts that can’t be cut? 20+ years crafting nonfic series, specials, sizzles and web content. Contact: [email protected] (LA) (3/26)

E-mail [email protected] or call Trish Pihonak at 203.926.9878 for rates and specs for Job Openings.

Are you looking for a job? Post your Situation Wanted Ad here — Email [email protected] for specs.

Cynopsis Media LLC
One Corporate Drive, Suite 724
Shelton, CT 06484
203.926.9878

All outgoing e-mails are scanned and sent out virus free. Copyright Cynopsis 2009