Zodiak Kids and China’s Ciwen Media Group have entered into a major content acquisition representation agreement for China, both companies announced today.
Zodiak has granted Ciwen exclusive distribution rights to more than 390 episodes of animated Zodiak programming, which includes programming from Zodiak Media’s French studios Marathon Media (Totally Spies – 26 x 26′, The Amazing Spiez – 52 x 30′, Rekkit Rabbit – 104 x 13′) and Tele Images (Extreme Football – 39 x 26′, The Ranch – 26 x 26′, The Basketeers – 52 x 26′) as well as Little Princess (100 x 11′) from the Illuminated Film Company.
Ciwen will act as agent on behalf of Zodiak Kids and broker deals across free TV, cable and satellite broadcasters as well as home entertainment and VOD platforms throughout China and Macau as well as VOD platforms in Hong Kong. Programming will be dubbed into Mandarin or other regional languages. Discussions between the parties continue with a view to extending the deal to include licensing, merchandising and publishing, and further announcements will be made during the year.
“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Ciwen Media Group, which is recognized as one of China’s leading distributors and a pioneer in introducing top animation properties to the Chinese market,” says Karen Vermeulen, SVP global sales and coproduction for Zodiak Kids. “This is a tremendous opportunity for us to be strategic about how we introduce Zodiak Kids content to China, and gain a deeper understanding of how to distribute content across multiple platforms in this unique marketplace.”
