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Canadian kid shows get new licensing push

Children's entertainment producers and distributors DHX Media announced this week it is launching its own licensing arm, DHX Licensing.

Looking to exploit properties from its Canadian kid show prodco subsidiaries Decode Entertainment, Halifax Film and Studio B Productions, the licensing arm will look for consumer product partners interested in working with the company's intellectual properties.

The new division's slate includes such IPs as Franny's Feet, Animal Mechanicals, Bo On the GO!, dirtgirlworld and Kid vs Kat, along with other third-party content such as Grandpa In My Pocket. Heading up the efforts are Decode's EVP of production and development Beth Stevenson and Polly Beel, director of marketing and licensing at DHX Licensing.

Stevenson tells MiC that the Halifax Film-produced Animal Mechanicals is one of DHX's hottest properties and is ripe for a consumer products partnership. The half-hour show debuted last fall on CBC and is generally the number one or two pre-school series on CBC Kids, she says.

"It's getting the most consumer resonance of any of our brands. The viewership is wild, the ratings on CBC are wild, it's really fantastic. Our challenge is, of course, to build global brands you have to get all the other territories lined up, which we're working on very well, but it's just come out of the gate huge here in Canada."

Animal Mechanicals airs weekdays at 7:30 am and weekends from 6 am to 7 am.

www.dhxmedia.com

-Updated from Kidscreen

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