New Deals for S4C’s Hana’s Helpline

LONDON, August 21: S4C International has announced new deals
on its successful preschool property Hana’s Helpline with RAI, Nickelodeon Australia, Hop! Channel in
Israel and France’s Piwi.

The deals are in addition to previous sales to broadcasters
including ZDF and KI.KA in Germany, France 5, SVT in Sweden, TV2 in Denmark,
TV2 in Norway, YLE in Finland, RTP in Portugal, TVB in Hong Kong, EBS in Korea,
TV12 Singapore, JCC in the Middle East and Eastern TV in Taiwan.

S4C International, which is a
joint venture between Parthenon Entertainment and Welsh facilities company
Barcud Derwen, distributes Hana’s Helpline internationally.

“The fact that Hana’s Helpline is finding a home with the best broadcasters around
the world is testimony to its high production values and the originality of the
concept—vital components in today’s competitive children’s programming
market,” said Anna-Lisa Jenaar, S4C International’s head of children’s
programming.

Hana’s Helpline is a
stop-motion animation series that follows a duck agony aunt named Hana and her
duckling son Francis as they help other young animals with their problems. The
26×10-minute show is a co-production with Calon, S4C, Five and ZDF, with
funding from the EU’s Media+ Program and the Wales Creative IP Fund. A Welsh
language version of the series first aired in April on S4C under the title Holi
Hannah. The series then launched on Five’s Milkshake slot on June 12.

S4C International has also announced a cause-related
promotional partnership with the charity Barnado’s. Five collectable zip pulls
featuring characters from the series will be available in Alliance Boots
pharmacies throughout the U.K. Funds raised from the sale of the zip pulls will
benefit Barnado’s.

This is S4C’s most recent partnership to promote Hana’s
Helpline. In June, the distributor
announced that U.K. publishing company Redan Publishing would feature the
series in four issues of the Fun to Learn Friends comic magazine over the summer. Other licensees on
board include Golden Bear as the master toy licensee for the U.K., Europe,
Australia and New Zealand; Random House Children’s Books as the publishing
partner; and 2Entertain, which is working towards U.K. DVD releases during
Christmas 2007 and spring 2008.