Turner Broadcasting Takes Over Lazy Town Brand Ahead of New Series
Parent Company to Boomerang and Cartoonito Strengthens Hold on Pre-School Space
Turner Broadcasting System Europe today announced its acquisition of
Latibaer, the Icelandic entity which owns and operates the LazyTown
brand.
The announcement comes with an immediate commitment to produce a new
series of the Icelandic kids TV series known and aired in more than 100
countries in more than a dozen languages. Under the terms of the deal,
LazyTown’s creator and star Magnus Scheving remains CEO of Latibaer and
retains his management team, and the series production stays in Iceland.
Magnus Scheving, CEO of Laetibar said “We’re delighted to have
Turner on board and believe that the fit is an ideal one for us, Turner
being one of the world's leading broadcast companies. Their ethos of
entertaining children in a fun and educational way is perfectly in
keeping with the LazyTown brand. We look forward to a bringing the
LazyTown message of helping motivate children to lead a healthy
lifestyle to a whole new audience of Turner viewers.”
LazyTown in particular signals the company’s growing ambitions in the
pre school space, given the synergies that LazyTown presents for the
company’s existing Cartoonito and Boomerang franchises. The announcement
follows Turner’s consolidated preschool expansion across Europe Middle
East and Africa, with the roll out of its preschool channel Cartoonito
across the region on 5th September 2011.
“The acquisition is
immensely exciting both strategically and creatively,” said Jeff Kupsky,
president TBS Europe. “With the great fit between our existing assets
in the pre-school genre, and the retention of the unique talent that is
Magnus Scheving, we’re ready to expand the LazyTown brand and
will immediately be starting production on a new series. This will be
supported by Turner’s successful 360 franchise management approach which
will include consumer products and digital extensions."
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