The Jim Henson Company, which earlier this year
struck a deal with Disney for the majority of the properties they owned, including all classic
Muppet Show character-based series (including
Show, Muppet Babies, and
Muppets Tonight) and others such as
Bear in the Big Blue House, has now struck a new deal for what seems to be the balance of their properties.
This time they've gone to HIT Entertainment, distributors of
Barney,
Bob The Builder, and other children's entertainment properties. The press release issued late in the week, which can be viewed in its entirety
here, has this to say:
HIT, owner of leading pre-school properties including Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Barney, will distribute Henson's award-winning classic family properties across many platforms, including television, home entertainment and consumer products. The 440 hour strong Family Classics portion of Henson's catalogue includes the ACE Award-winning titles Fraggle Rock and Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, BAFTA Award-winning Jim Henson's The Hoobs, BAFTA nominated Jim Henson's Construction Site, Jim Henson's Mopatop's Shop, and Emmy Award-winning Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories. The deal does not include titles involving the Muppets or Bear in the Big Blue House, the rights to which were recently acquired by The Walt Disney Company.
In addition to the distribution deal, the arrangement provides for the production of new properties, which will also be distributed by HIT. The first of such projects is Frances, a new pre-school program based on the best-selling Frances Treasury series of books.
No, DVDs were not specifically mentioned. However, HIT is just as well known for their home video distribution as they are for their television broadcast distribution. Getting these titles into stores would probably be a priority for them, in order to reap the benefits of this deal. This is a world-wide distribution deal, so all forthcoming product in these line-ups should now be coming out through HIT.
With the U.K. (Region 2; not compatible with most USA/Canada DVD players) getting a release of
a Fraggle Rock DVD tomorrow, North American consumers can't wait to get their own versions of this beloved show into their hot little hands! Stay tuned, because we'll keep an eye on this developing story! Our thanks to the fine folks at ToonZone.net, for the heads-up on the press release.
