Koala Brothers Score Portuguese Deals

LONDON, November 10:
Spellbound Entertainment's hit preschool property The Koala Brothers has clinched a range of licensing and
merchandising deals in Portugal, where the show has been acquired by free-TV
broadcaster RTP and the cable and satellite channel Canal Panda.

The
kids agency Zero A Oito will serve as
the marketing and licensing agent for The
Koala Brothers in Portugal, and will also act as the licensee for magazines
and activity books. Concentra has been tapped as master toy partner, with plans
to develop, manufacture and distribute a range of products. The toy company
will also manufacture merchandise for other markets and partners appointed by
Spellbound. Concentra's initial product line will include plush of the two lead
characters, Frank and Buster, beanies, a set of die-cast vehicles, plastic
figures, a plane play-set plus an Educational and Musical Telephone,
Interactive Book, Magic Storyteller, Light ‘n’ Draw and Lap Top Computer. The
range is expected to debut in Portugal in fall 2009.

In addition, Majora as
been named as Koala's licensee for
puzzles and games. The new partners join Big Picture Entertainment, which holds
the home-entertainment rights to The
Koala Brothers in Portugal, and Editorial Verbo, which recently rolled out
a range of storybooks based on the property.

Peter Curtis, the joint
managing director of Spellbound, said: "We are delighted that The Koala Brothers has been so well
received in Portugal and is gaining further momentum. Each
of these partners have the experience and skills needed to help place The Koala Brothers in pole position in
the market. The Koala Brothers is now growing rapidly across the globe and
these new deals further demonstrate the popularity of the brand."

There are 78 episodes of The Koala Brothers, along with a 46-minute Christmas special. One
of CBeebies' top shows, the series has been picked up by more than 50
broadcasters across 150-plus territories, among them Disney Channel in the U.S. and Japan; Treehouse and
Tele-Quebec in Canada; Discovery Kids in Latin America; Super RTL in Germany;
France 5 and Canal J in France; ABC and Nickelodeon in Australia; Cartoon
Network in India; EBS in Korea; TV 12 in Singapore; and Finland’s TV4 Nelonen.

The Portuguese deals follow
a raft of activity in Australia, where Koala Books was recently named as the
new literary partner, with plan to offer up storybooks. Jasnor has been
appointed as toy partner and will be rolling out new plush products as well as
plastic toys, including a plane play-set, bags, backpacks and umbrellas. Blue
Opal has acquired the rights to produce puzzles and games, and Northern Leisure
has produced a Koala Brothers plane
ride-on that is currently being rolled out to select shopping centers. The
flurry of licensing activity came as ABC renewed its rights to the show until
2012.

—By Mansha Daswani