ER Strikes Digital Alliances

LONDON, May 6: Entertainment Rights (ER) has inked several
digital partnerships to deliver a selection of its classic animated kids’
programming to the platforms YouTube, Joost and Babelgum.

ER will make shows such as He-Man, She-Ra,
Trapdoor, Felix the Cat, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Archies, Fat Albert and Casper
the Friendly Ghost available online via a Retro
Heroes’ channel on all three platforms.

Under the deal formed with online video-sharing site
YouTube, ER will roll out a new free-to-view channel, Retro Heroes, featuring
2- and 5-minute webisodes selected from the 1,000 hours of classic content in
ER’s 3,600-hour catalogue. Meanwhile, the partnerships formed with Internet
television portals Babelgum and Joost will also feature the launch of a Retro
Heroes channel on both platforms, featuring selected programming of long-form
retro content from ER’s catalogue.

Laura Turner Laing, the VP of global digital media and music
at ER, commented: “These partnerships signal a significant step forward for the
company delivering a multiplatform strategy which sees its brands successfully
evolving outside of the linear TV platforms into the digital environment.
Entertainment Rights wants to be where the audience is and online video enables
the company to exploit its brands which have strong retro appeal.”

—By Irene Lew