Dutch Book Publisher 'Podium' And Nickelodeon Consumer Products In The Netherlands Sign Deal For Future Educational Program Based On Nickelodeon Preschool Favourites; Rainbow Announces New "Winx Club" Merchandise Distributors

From Animation Insider:

Animation Licensing Update

Licensing News

The following article highlights select brand licensing or consumer product notes announced over the past few weeks. Some of the announcements, like the upcoming line of Adventure Time books or the renewal of Winx Club dolls, are well-timed with a greater schedule of new products in-line with the brand. Additional licensing agreements cover everything from tents to walkie-talkies to nighttime underwear.

In the latter weeks of the spring season, book publisher Podium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) reached an agreement with Nickelodeon Consumer Products regarding a future educational program for Nick's preschool properties. Nickelodeon perennials Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego Go! will help educate local kindergarten students regarding basic counting and social-emotional skills, as well as for various language learning activities. According to sources, the program will be developed in line with the Dutch national curriculum with additional support from various electronic media platforms

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HIT Entertainment inked a licensing deal with Sakar International (Edison, NJ) that looks to develop, manufacture, and market a collection of Thomas & Friends merchandise that will include everything from clock radios, walkie-talkies, and text messengers to digital cameras, flashlights, and computer accessories. The agreement covers the U.S. and Canada. More recently for HIT Entertainment, toymaker Fisher-Price (East Aurora, NY) is reportedly close to an agreement that will find them marketing and manufacturing the global master toy range for the preschool CG series Mike the Knight. Role-play items, playsets, plush toys, figures, and more will comprise the toy line. The deal would exclude the UK and Japan.

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[...] in the backyard of Rainbow, the company announced in mid-June a few new toy distributors for Winx Club heading into the key summer and autumn months.

New partners on board for the series reboot include Bizak (Spain), Universal Trends (Germany), Cotiplas (Brazil), Emway (Indonesia), Tisak (Croatia), and OFY (Serbia). More than ten new doll collections are planned for 2012.

Winx Club dolls are produced for the worldwide market by Witty Toys, part of the Rainbow Group (except in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, where JAKKS Pacific is the master toy licensee).

You can read Animation Insider's 'Animation Licensing Update' report here on the official Animation Insider website, AnimationInsider.net.