Huntik Clinches U.K. Slots

LONDON, January 15: Jetix and CITV in the U.K. have signed up for the new action-adventure animated series Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, a co-production of Big Bocca Productions and Rainbow S.p.A.

The 26×30-minute series was created by Iginio Straffi, the head of Rainbow S.p.A. who also created Winx Club. The show was developed through a partnership between Big Bocca Productions, Rainbow S.p.A. and m4e. Big Bocca Productions manages all marketing, promotional and licensing initiatives for Huntik: Secrets & Seekers in North America, Latin America, Canada, the U.K., Japan, China, Korea, Israel, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania. Rainbow is managing the Huntik property in most of Europe and parts of Asia, including India. German-speaking territories are managed by m4e.

Jetix U.K. will have an exclusive window, launching the show in this month. CITV will air the series beginning this summer.

"We are delighted to have such big players committed to our property and trust that the series will be a long-lasting success on both channels in the U.K.," said Marie-Laure Marchand, the managing director of Big Bocca Productions. "Having two major broadcasters involved in our property will help us tremendously in building its profile in such a crucial European territory and help us install the show as a key boy’s action brand."

"Huntik is a first-class property with an extremely attractive combination of magic, action and mystery elements," added Straffi. "We are proud to have renowned broadcasters attached to our brand and are convinced that this will set the ground for a long-lasting licensing program on a worldwide basis."

Other deals clinched for the show include Jetix in Benelux, Televisa (through Televix), ABS-CBN in Philippines, Mediacorp in Singapore, NTV7 in Malaysia, KTV in South Africa, Noga in Israel, Antena 3 Neox in Spain, Canal Panda in Spain, MTV3 Finland, Kanal D Turkey, Alter in Greece, Kabar TV in Kazakhstan and TV3 in Baltic States. The series launched this month in the U.S. (The CW4Kids) and Italy (Rai 2). Other upcoming rollouts include MNET in South Africa, RTL2 in Germany and MTV3 in Finland.

—By Mansha Daswani