Marc Brown Studios and United Media celebrate their one year partnership with new and exciting news for the television/publishing franchise featuring the world's most popular aardvark
New Spin-Off Series Postcards from Buster joins the weekday PBS Kids lineup in fall 2004
New York, NY (June 8, 2004) -- On the heels of the one year anniversary of its partnership with Marc Brown Studios, United Media has put in place a number of new deals for Arthur, the award winning television series and publishing powerhouse, fleshing out the program already in place with additional partners in key areas. Working with some of the property's existing licensees, several deals also have been renewed. Highlights from United Media's efforts include:
Lions Gate Home Entertainment's Family Home Entertainment Division, Marc Brown Productions and WGBH Boston are co-producing a first ever direct-to-video feature film starring Arthur that is set to hit stores in 2006.
Momentus Solutions is launching new vitamin strips under its "Healthy Moments" brand.
Wendy's will feature Arthur in its Kids' Meal program January 17 - February 20, 2005 in all participating restaurants in the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico.
Fisher-Price is going global with its Arthur Interactive Talking Electronic Books. Domestically, it has renewed its deal for Power Touch learning books and software and signed on to use Arthur for the Pixter platform.
Through September, a promotion in Caffe Uno, a U.K. restaurant chain, will feature the Arthur characters on children's menus and premiums.
Also on the horizon is a new audiobook featuring a 10 story collection of Arthur adventures read and recorded by such names as Kelly Ripa, Minnie Driver, and Sugar Ray Leonard. Proceeds from the audiobook go to The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, among others.
Nestle/Libby's Juicy Juice has renewed and will feature Arthur on its juice boxes.
TCBY has renewed its exclusive rights to manufacture, distribute, and sell frozen yogurt or ice cream products.
"When United Media signed on to represent the Arthur franchise, we were aware of its potential to expand beyond its current licensing program and outside of the television and publishing arenas," said April Heeren, Brand Director for Arthur at United Media. "The key deals we've been able to put into place over the last year demonstrate the property's viability and genuine popularity. As we continue to flesh out the program we forsee a continued and renewed interest with additional new partners"
Other news on the Arthur front...
The New Spin-Off Series Postcards from Buster
Postcards from Buster, a spin-off of the always popular Arthur TV and publishing franchise, joins the weekday PBS Kids lineup in fall 2004. During the 40 initial episodes, Postcards from Buster follows Buster as he travels cross country to explore and learn about diverse cultures. Postcards from Buster uses a groundbreaking combination of music, narrative animation and documentary style live-action blended with the award-winning animation elements of Arthur -- plus kid-based humor, great storytelling and a recurring cast of enjoyable, familiar characters.
About UNITED MEDIA United Media (UM) is a worldwide licensing and syndication company that focuses on building brand equity around a wide range of creative content. The company recently signed the new PBS kid series, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, the MTA (New York Metropolitan Transit Authority), and the Emmy award winning television series, Arthur, to its portfolio of properties. It also collaborated with fellow E.W. Scripps company, Food Network, to build an all new licensing programming featuring the popular cable channel. United Media licenses and/or syndicates other properties, including PEANUTS, Precious Moments, Copyrights at United Media (The World of Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear, etc.), Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Dilbert. United Media is an E.W. Scripps Company.
