Hop!

World
Screen Weekly, March 8, 2007

CHANNEL: Hop!

COUNTRY: Israel

LAUNCH
DATE: February 2000

NUMBER OF
SUBSCRIBERS: The cable
channel reaches 1.4 million homes in Israel. It is also available in Romania as
Boom Hop! and as a daily block on The Israeli Network in the U.S., Europe,
Australia, New Zealand and South America.

OWNERSHIP: Tel Aviv-based Zebra Communications

DESCRIPTION:
Hop! is the leading
preschool channel in Israel, offering up original and acquired content under
the slogan “Growing Up in Good Hands.” The channel broadcasts daily,
commercial-free, from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is a member of the Zebra
Communications family of assets, which includes Luli, a channel launched two
years ago for babies; Hop! Parents, with factual fare on parenting; two VOD
services; the Hop! Interactive Learning channel and a broadband website.

EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR: Alona Abt

EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR: Tamir Paul

HEAD OF
PROGRAM ACQUISITIONS & SCHEDULING: Galya Halaui

PROGRAMMING
STRATEGY: Hop! was the
first dedicated preschool channel in the Israeli market when it launched in
2000. Today, it reaches some 90 percent of its target audience, which spans
from 6 months to 7 years old, according to Gayla Halaui, the channel’s head of
program acquisitions and scheduling. Hop! is ranked as the fourth most-watched
cable and satellite channel in Israel and is the highest-rated channel among
kids aged seven and below, routinely beating competitors Noga, Jetix and
Nickelodeon. The key to appealing to a broad base, Halaui says, is appropriate
scheduling. “In the early mornings, from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., we have a baby
strand,” Halaui says, adding that there is another one from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
“Towards the evening it’s more family oriented, so we try to schedule programs
that parents can share with their kids.”

The channel’s
programming is made up of an equal mix of third-party acquisitions and original
productions, Halaui says. On the acquisitions front, Halaui says that Hop! is
not committed to any one major kids’ content supplier, giving her the freedom
to acquire a diverse array of properties, from Hello Kitty to Lunar Jim to Strawberry Shortcake. Other top performers have included Bob
the Builder, Clifford and Dora the Explorer, and the channel is gearing up to
launch Disney’s new CGI series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Hop! also has
been actively investing in original productions, including working with Sesame
Workshop on a local production of Sesame Street entitled Rechov Sumsum. The series includes studio scenes,
documentary films about children around the country, guest appearances by
popular Israeli personalities and content from Sesame Workshop’s library
translated into Hebrew. The acclaimed co-production has been greenlit for a
third season that is slated to premiere in about 18 months, Halaui says. Of the
channel’s other original content, which totals about 100 hours a year, Halaui
cites the daily morning program The Kuntz Family, a puppet-based show about a family’s
morning, pre-school activities; Dafna and Dudidu, featuring local Israeli actress Dafna
Dekel; and A Bedtime Story For Nimi, which wraps up the schedule everyday. “We end our broadcast with
an interstitial where all our characters go to sleep.”

WHAT'S NEW:
The channel is
actively seeking international expansion, particularly in the U.S., Europe and
Asia, following the successful launch of Boom Hop! in Romania last fall. It
will also be further developing its website, which currently attracts about
300,000 unique visitors per month. “We launched about seven years ago a website
that is for kids that can’t read yet, so everything is dubbed—kids can
use the website without the help of their parents.”

On the
programming front, Halaui says she has been well served with shows for the
younger end of the preschool set. “Now we’re looking for programs that will
appeal to the older age group, like Clifford,” she says. “Shows that parents can
share with their children, that will be free of violence, that have some kind
of educational value.”

WEBSITE: www.hop.co.il

—By
Mansha Daswani