Popular Russian series ‘Kikoriki New Adventures’ and ‘Pin-Code’ head to Italy, Latvia, North Africa and the Middle East.
London-based distribution company Media I.M. has closed a string of deals for two of its most popular children’s animation series -- Kikoriki New Adventures and Pin-Code.
Under a five-year deal, Discovery Italia has acquired the rights to a further 26 episodes of the 11-minute series, Kikoriki New Adventures, for its free-to-air Frisbee channel. Discovery Italia premiered the first 26-episode season of the hit animation, which has now been sold into 30 territories, earlier this year. Petersburg Animation Studio’s flagship brand about the spherical inhabitants of the world of Kikoriki launched in 2003 and has gone on to become one of the most successful projects in the history of Russian animation and L&M.
Discovery’s new kids channel D-Kids in the Middle East and North Africa, which launched in August this year, is also taking the exclusive pay-tv rights to the second season of Pin-Code (32 x 13 minutes), under a three-year deal that will see the animated sci-fi adventure air across the region. The series will roll out on D-Kids across North Africa & the Middle East, at the end of 2016. As well as airing in English, Pin-Code, which chronicles the adventures of a penguin inventor called Pin and features all main characters introduced in Kikoriki, will also be dubbed into Arabic.
“We are happy to introduce this great show to our viewers and this deal underlines our commitment to bringing the very best shows to the MENA region,” said Nesta Owens, Director of Programs at Discovery.
One of the biggest telecom companies in Latvia, Lattelecom, has also invested into the package of rights for its SVOD service currently known as Shortcut. Under a 12-month contract they have acquired 240 episodes of preschool and 6-12 animation series from Media I.M., including Kikoriki and Pin-Code series, The Bubbles, Flying Animals and Robodz.
“Both Kikoriki and Pin-Code are incredibly strong channel builders, as can be seen from the range of broadcasters and platforms using them as foundation blocks for both free-to-air and SVOD launches,” said Irina Nazarenko, co-founder of Media I.M. “But as well as their proven commercial track record in helping channels to build sustainable businesses, both series encapsulate the Media I.M. philosophy: to source great IP from all over the world to add real value to children’s enjoyment and education.”
Source: Media I.M.
