TVA, Cirque du Soleil Images ink deal

Cirque du Soleil and TVA Group, both based in Montreal, have announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership to produce international TV projects, which TVA president and CEO Daniel Lamarre says could add up to US$17 million. The program lineup includes an animation series called The Children of Cirque du Soleil (working title), to be produced in association with Granada Media Group of the U.K. ‘We are now looking for a partner (including a Canadian animation studio) to join us in the series,’ says Wagg.

Cinar and Lightspan team up

Montreal-based Cinar is further beefing up its lucrative educational holdings by becoming a minority partner of San Diego-based Internet educational and software development company Lightspan. Lightspan designs software for in-school use and its product lineup includes Lightspan Achieve Now curriculum software.

Fox Kids expands

On November 20, Fox Kids Poland launched action block Power-Up and Family-Block (which will include The Simpsons), extending its broadcast by five hours until 10 p.m. Fox Kids launched in Poland in April `98 through cable operator Wizja, with one million subscribers. Fox Kids Central & Eastern Europe also extended its broadcast by two hours from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m in November. The series Button Nose, Inspector Gadget, Dennis the Menace and Little Mermaid fill the extended time slot. Fox Kids Central & Eastern Europe launched in April this year in English-, Russian- and Romanian-language service in 12 countries in the region.

Croatians meet Turner

Turner Broadcasting System’s Cartoon Network launched on the Croatian Cable Association (GUI KATEL) on November 1, along with CNN International and TCM on a 24-hour, three-year basis.