Saban Launches “Virtual Studio”

LOS ANGELES, October 3: Haim Saban and his Saban
Entertainment Group (SEG) have launched a new business focused on developing
family entertainment properties for the international market, with the first
project, Hollywood Star Dogs, set to
launch at MIPCOM.

Led by Haim Saban and Saban Capital Group chief creative
officer, Joel Andryc, the new venture will tap into their access to
industry-leading producers, writers, artists, production houses and grass roots
marketers, creating a “virtual studio” that employs targeted freelance teams
for every project. The new venture will focus on identifying and creating
unique, original intellectual properties and brands capable of being distributed
across numerous multiple media platforms.

Saban, the CEO of Saban Capital Group, commented, "I
am thrilled to return to my roots and focus on developing media properties for
children and families. The SEG team's extensive background in children's
entertainment gives us unique expertise in recognizing breakthrough creative
content. We will bring together specialized freelance talent to help develop,
brand and promote each project. This strategy will enable us to create a
best-in-class studio that is custom tailored for the needs of each individual
project."

Andryc added, "In today's new media environment, we
plan to capitalize on cutting-edge interactive technologies to engage the youth
market. Our audience will discover and experience unique characters and story
content through the media outlet they prefer; be it broadcast, cable, VOD,
broadband/internet, direct-to-home-video, videogames or mobile devices."

For their first virtual studio project, Hollywood Star
Dogs, SEG has partnered with Holly Goldberg
Sloan, who has written screenplays for a variety of family-focused films,
including Angels in the Outfield,
Made in America and The
Big Green. The 26×30-minute series features
a troupe of live-action talking dogs portraying classic fairy tales. "We
were instantly drawn to Hollywood Star Dogs because of the property's innovative take on classic
literature," said Andryc. "With its unique use of live animals and
advanced CGI animation to tell timeless tales and other stories, it is a high
quality, distinctive property that lends itself to number of distribution
outlets. It has been a pleasure to work with Holly. She is a great creative
talent and together we are confident that we can build Hollywood Star
Dogs into a successful entertainment
franchise and an enduring evergreen brand."

SEG has also entered into a development deal with Tiny
Island Animation, a Singapore-based animation studio led by David Kwok. SEG
will provide development resources to Tiny Island Animation, which focuses on
producing computer-generated entertainment for international television
audiences. A comedic CGI animated series is already currently in development
and is expected to make its debut in 2007.