Joanna Padovano Tong

TORONTO: 9 Story Media Group has inked a deal with Little Critter, LLC to produce a new animated show based on Mercer Mayer's Little Critter children's book characters.

LONDON: Zodiak Kids has licensed the popular preschool series Mister Maker’s Arty Party to broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Poland and Asia.

VANCOUVER: Thunderbird has appointed Matthew Berkowitz as head of development at subsidiary studio Atomic Cartoons.

LONDON: Serious Lunch has licensed all five seasons of the live-action series Operation Ouch! to Corus Entertainment for broadcast on YTV in Canada later this fall.

JOHANNESBURG: Animation SA, which represents South Africa's animation industry, has teamed up with Turner for the first-ever Animation Lounge at this year's DISCOP Johannesburg.

SANTA MONICA: Activision Blizzard's new animated show Skylanders Academy, based on the video-game franchise, has become available for streaming on Netflix.

NEW YORK: Nickelodeon has signed an exclusive licensing deal with JoJo Siwa (Dance Moms) to develop a collection of consumer products inspired by the 13-year-old singer, dancer, actress and social media personality.

LONDON: Manga Entertainment has teamed up with 4K Media to exclusively distribute the new Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions movie to more than 120 cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland.

BURBANK: Disney Channel and Raven-Symoné are developing and starting preliminary casting for a new family sitcom that will continue the story from That's So Raven, which aired on the network from 2003 to 2007.

PARIS/BEIJING: TeamTO has inked a distribution deal with Taikong Works for all rights to its animated theatrical feature film Yellowbird in China.