A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM DISNEY MEDIA ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING GROUP

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Source: Nielsen, 12/26/05-12/31/06, All cable ranking of prime defined as MSU 7P-12A HH (000)s Live +SD, Qualifications upon request

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Cynopsis: Kids!

2/28/07

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 28, 2007 and this is your first early morning Kids! briefing.

Children Now, a nonpartisan research and kids advocacy group, says it plans to conduct national research on kids TV shows classified as educational to assess if they are indeed educational, per the Associated Press.  This comes on the heals of the $24 million fine levied by the FCC against Univision for airing a telenovela as an educational and informational program for kids that resulted in numerous viewer complaints.  Children Now played a significant role in helping to create the FCC’s most recent digital TV kids programming rules passed last year.

Kids’ WB has picked up a third season (13 episodes) of the animated series Johnny Test from Cookie Jar Entertainment.  The new episodes of Johnny Test are being produced for the 2007-2008 season of Kids’ WB Saturday morning programming block on The CW.

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has picked up the rights to two scripted series from Blueprint Entertainment.  FME holds the worldwide distribution rights for both properties for TV (excluding North America) and DVD (excluding Canada), and will launch both projects at MIPTV this April 2007.

• Targeted to teens, The Best Years (13×60′) is produced by Blueprint Entertainment in association with The N and CanWest MediaWorks’ Global Television.  The show follows Samantha, a college freshmen, as she makes friends and “frenemies” and they all make their way through the ups and downs of college life.  Created and executive produced by Aaron Martin, The Best Years is slated to premiere this summer on The N (US) and Global Television (Canada).  Blueprint’s John Morayniss, Noreen Halpern also serve as executive producers.
• Aimed at adults, Love You To Death (13×30′) will be known in the US as ‘Til Death Do Us Part when it debuts on Court TV this spring 2007.  The scripted drama/wry comedy series stars writer/director John Waters, and tells some bizarro tales inspired by real stories of spouses who have killed their partners.  The series also debuts this spring on Global Television in Canada.

Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network (US) has inked a deal with Entara Ltd, for the worldwide multiplatform rights for Those Scurvy Rascals (26×3.5′), a short-form CGI animated series.  Targeted to kids and teens, Those Scurvy Rascals is slated to bow in spring 2007 on Nickelodeon channels around the world and Nicktoons Networks US.  The series follows the adventures of a group of hapless pirates traveling the high seas in their unending quest for pants.  Acquired by Entara last year, the series is developed by Blue-Zoo animation studio.  Blue-Zoo’s Those Scurvy Rascals short aired in the US as part of Nicktoons Network’s Second Annual Nextoons: The Nicktoons Film Festival in 2005.  ( www.thosescurvyrascals.com )

A couple of kids programming deals from BBC Showcase, the annual trade event hosted by distributor BBC Worldwide taking place now (February 25-March 1) in Brighton, England.  Upwards of 600 buyers from around the world are attending BBC Showcase this year.

• TVNZ (New Zealand) has picked up In the Night Garden (100×30′) from BBCWW Australasia.  This marks the first international sale of the new preschool series, which is produced by Ragdoll Ltd for CBeebies.  Filmed in a real wooded area, In the Night Garden features a mix of high-tech live-character costumes and CG animation.  Hasbro holds the master toy license for the property.  The fifth season of Little Robots S5 (13×10′), the animated series from Create Film and TV, will also debut on TVNZ.
• Discovery Kids en Español has acquired Fimbles from BBCWW.  The Fimbles live-action preschool series will make its US premiere completely dubbed in Spanish, on May 6, 2007 at 1p.  The series takes its lead from kid’s natural curiosity about the world, with each 20-minute episode revolving around a group of characters and their adventures.  Fimbles is produced by Novel Entertainment.

Noggin will introduce new literacy-based programming throughout March 2007 as part of its Get Ready To Ready national literacy initiative.  On Friday March 2, Noggin will debut two new Story Time interstitials and two public service announcements featuring Isaiah Washington and Cedric the Entertainer each reading a story to Noggin’s hosts Moose and Zee and kids at home.  Beginning Monday, March 5, the spots will rollout on the network.  From Monday March 26 through Friday, March 30, the network will premiere five new episodes of the animated series Pinky Dinky Doo.  Additionally, Pinky Dinky Doo audio podcasts (2×10′) will be available at Noggin.com beginning March 26.  The website will also feature a number of reading games and activities during March.

Icon Animation continues building its third party distribution business with a range of animation program sales in Spain:

• TV3, the Catalan pubcaster, has picked up the rights for Skyland (26×26′), The Smurfs (90×26′), FireQuest (26×26′), Pablo The Little Red Fox (52×5′) and Loui (78×7′).
• Canal Sur, the Andalucian free TV channel, has acquired up Nickelodeon’s Dora The Explorer (96×26′), Millimages’ 64 Zoo Lane (52×11′), Fire Quest (26×26′) and The Way Things Work (26×13′).
• Spain’s RTVE has picked up 40 additional episodes (40×30′) of Clifford The Big Red Dog, following its acquisition last year of an initial 50×30′ of Clifford The Big Red Dog and Clifford’s Puppy Days.  Icon Animation handled both Spanish sales on behalf of producer Scholastic Media and distributor TV Loonland.

Off the Fence, an indie production/distribution company, has inked an exclusive deal with Phil Streather of Principal Large Format, producer of large screen (Imax) movies.  Under the deal Streather and PLF, best known for the Imax 3D movie Bugs, will be based at OTF’s offices in Bristol and will provide media services to Off the Fence on giant screen and other feature film projects, as well as developing new projects.  Projects currently in development includes: Flight of the Butterflies, an Imax 3D movie focusing on the history and migration of the monarch butterfly, which will be directed by Mike Slee (Bugs) and is a co-production with Canada’s SK Films; Great White 3-D, a digital 3D movie about human interaction with Great White sharks told through real life experiences of various people including shark attack victims, film makers and researchers.  Great White 3-D will be directed by Bob Talbot and is also a co-production with SK Films.

Casting Call: Norsemen TV Productions, producers of TLC’s Bringing Home Baby, are looking for soon-to-be-parents who will deliver between March 1 and July 15, 2007. Parents can be married or non-traditional, single, young or old, giving birth, adopting or using a surrogate, but they must live in the Los Angeles area. If interested, contact Pete Brophy at pbrophy @norsemen.tv (818-753-3128) or Sam Kivi [email protected] (818-753-3129).

MARKETING/LICENSING

iVillage Inc. and Common Sense Media have entered into a partnership to provide iVillage users with access to Common Sense Media content (e.g. reviews, ratings and information) designed to help parents make decisions about what their kids and families are watching/reading/playing/surfing/listening to.  iVillage has integrated Common Sense Media’s media content into a newly created Family Entertainment area at www.ivillage.com .

SEGA of America Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd revealed details about The Golden Compass video game, adapted from upcoming New Line Cinema film of the same name, which in turn is based on the first book of author Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. Set for a holiday 2007 release, The Golden Compass video game is being developed by Shiny Entertainment, known for developing games based on The Matrix movies, for the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PS2, PSP and for the PC. The Nintendo DS version is being developed by A2M.  Players can assume the role of Lyra, a young girl, along with her daemon Pantalaimon (Pan), as she journeys through 13 different environments to rescue a friend. Gamers can also take on the character of Iorek Byrnison, an armored polar bear who joins the quest. Produced by New Line Cinema and Scholastic Media, The Golden Compass will be released in theaters on December 7, 2007.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Studio B adds two new senior staffers.

• Kirsten Newlands has been upped to Head of Production.  In this newly created position Newlands will oversee the company’s production slate.  She had been Producer on season one of the animated series Pucca.  Previously, Newlands worked in foreign feature film sales and produced several feature films.
• Anthony Jiwa joins the animation house as Director/Marketing.  He will help develop strategies to build Studio B’s properties across all platforms. Most recently, Jiwa was Director/Marketing for VIZ Media.

Theresa Plummer-Andrews has been appointed as a non-Executive Director of Entara Ltd.  Formerly Head of Acquisitions & Co-Productions, Children’s BBC, Plummer Andrews will provide the entertainment rights company with strategic advice and expertise on the growth of the business and becomes a member of Entara’s board.  Also joining the board is Entara’s EVP/Distribution Division, Regis Brown, who joined the company from Taffy Entertainment in August 2006.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Saturday, February 24, 2007, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1511; K6-11 1003; TWEENS 9-14 726
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1089; K6-11   683; TWEENS 9-14 505
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   761; K6-11   555; TWEENS 9-14 433
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   119; K6-11     66; TWEENS 9-14   43
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Sunday, February 25, 2007, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1394; K6-11 974; TWEENS 9-14 742
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1025; K6-11 634; TWEENS 9-14 475
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   641; K6-11 444; TWEENS 9-14 295
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   176; K6-11 108; TWEENS 9-14   55
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Monday, February 26, 2007, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1121; K6-11 515; TWEENS 9-14 375
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11   763; K6-11 457; TWEENS 9-14 370
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   479; K6-11 321; TWEENS 9-14 225
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   141; K6-11   82; TWEENS 9-14   54
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

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Answer to Yesterday’s trivia question:  Kippers were smoked herrings and a favorite snack of Nigel on what kid’s show?  WILD THORNBERRYS  Kudos To:  Olivia Quintana-Comcast Networks/NY; Sonia Mendez-WCBD/Charleston

Today’s Trivia Question: What top 10 song from The Carpenters was featured on Sesame Street? (click here 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!
2.28.07

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JOB OPENING: SALES PLANNER/Univision/NY: Generate upfront & scatter plans. Handle all aspects of ongoing deal maintenance & stewardship. Media experience. Spanish a plus. Apply: [email protected] EOE  (3/7)

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SPRING INTERNSHIPS – These positions are for credit only – nobody gets paid here. They are 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] .

SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED —

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