Canadian Kids’ Shows Sent Around the World

CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution, the international content licensing arm of Canada’s public broadcaster, has inked new deals around the world for its slate of children’s titles amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The company sold the first season of the live-action series Marika, produced by Telefiction for Radio-Canada, to SVT in Sweden. With season four in production, the series is one of the most-watched kids’ shows on Radio-Canada’s SVOD Tou.tv platform​. Marika ​is distributed in collaboration with Rocket Launch Media worldwide.

Further deals were announced of the animated series ​Li’l Doc, produced by Gala Prod for TFO, which sold to Intervista in Corsica; Kidoodle.TV; Toon Goggles; Notio Media for its platform Mini Me in Bangladesh, Africa and the U.S.; and Knowledge Network. Worldwide distribution for Li’l Doc is done in collaboration with Superights, Meta Media and Mounia Aram. Knowledge Network will also present the series That’s Cool!, ​produced by Toast Studio for Radio-Canada.

Adventure 2 Learning, which also acquired Li’l Doc, picked up three other kids’ titles: YOUniverse​ (produced by Victory Arts), ​A Small World​ (produced by Toast for Radio-Canada) for French immersion and ​That’s Cool in French and in English. Kidoodle.TV also acquired ​That’s Cool ​and the three preschool animated series from Victory Arts: YOUniverse, I Love My Monster ​and Alphabet Stories.

That’s Cool ​and the magical live-action show Thrillusionists (produced by ​5’7” Films​ for CBC Kids) were sold to Toon Goggles. Two seasons of According to Kids ​(CBC Kids) were sold to the app Hopster and to ABC in Australia. Li’l Doc, That’s Cool!, Small Talk (CBC Kids) and season one through four of Studio K (CBC Kids) were sold to Learning 360​ ​in the U.S. Bamboo Love,​ produced by Victory Arts for TVO, Radio-Canada and Knowledge and distributed by Beyond Kids, is receiving positive feedback from buyers with the sports-centered season two set to be finished production by the end of the summer.

Notable acquisitions for CBC & Radio-Canada include Super Agent Jon Le Bon!, ​produced by Happy Camper Media, which will hit screens in January 2021 in Canada. Zodiak Kids, CBC & Radio-Canada’s partner in distribution, presented the first episodes during MIFA which will be available as soon as the beginning of 2021 for the international market. Season one is already available for the French market. The animated show Moose, produced by Muse for Radio-Canada and inspired by the books of author Robert Munsch, will be new on the market in 2021 with 5×11-minute Christmas specials and a one-hour TV special. The original series ZamZoom, produced by Rotating Planet for TVO and TFO, brings kids to zoom through space on an uproarious intergalactic expedition to discover Earth’s most strange and extraordinary creatures.

Production of the adaptation of the best-selling Canadian comic book by Quebecois author Bryan Perro, Amos Daragon, ​is underway. The animated series is being produced by Iceworks Animation inc. for Radio-Canada. The series is slated to premiere during the 2020-2021 television season.

Mia Desroches, director of partnerships and content distribution at CBC & Radio-Canada Distribution, said: “We’re very proud of the success that we’ve seen with our kids’ shows, this continues to be a huge area of growth for us. In a time of uncertainty, our team continues to acquire and invest in top-tier, Canadian-made content across a variety of themes and genres.”