KidsCo to Debut in Africa

LONDON, April 11: KidsCo
has secured a broadcast agreement with African platform operator Gateway
Broadcast Services (GTV), leading to a launch in several sub-Saharan
African territories.

Due to the agreement, the channel began airing on April 2 in Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Botswana, Namibia, Gambia,
Sierra Leone, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The new territories add to the channel’s roster, which also includes
Romania, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Singapore and the Philippines. KidsCo
executives expect the network to broadcast in up to 40 territories, including
Europe and Latin America, within the next 18 months.

The channel is a joint venture
owned by NBC Universal, DIC Entertainment and Corus Entertainment. It is
largely programmed from the vaults of DIC and Corus’ Nelvana, which have a
combined library totalling more than 6,200 half hours of kids programming.

“We are delighted to have concluded this deal with GTV, which will bring
children aged 6 to 10 and their families in sub-Saharan Africa an English-language
KidsCo TV channel,” said KidsCo’s managing director, Paul Robinson. “We are
confident that the brilliant characters and shows from our content
shareholders’ DIC and Nelvana will be extremely popular in Africa and is the
latest chapter in KidsCo’s global roll-out.”

Julian McIntyre, the managing director and founder of GTV, added: “We are very excited about our
partnership with KidsCo. We made a commitment to our subscribers to continually
add new, engaging content for customers and are confident that KidsCo will be
the channel of choice, enjoyed by the whole family.”

—By Ned Berke