Remember reading about handle box DVD cases in KidScreen magazine a few months back? (KidScreen December 2006)

Well, they’ll be rolling out in North America in the coming months. Roadshow Entertainment, the Australia-based licensor of the technology, has appointed Hong Kong-based Viva as a non-exclusive manufacturer of the special cases in North and South America and South Africa.

The box is a child-friendly DVD case with a rounded handle that kids find easier to hang onto. First emerging in the Australian and New Zealand markets for titles based on The Wiggles, Bob the Builder, Bananas in Pyjamas, Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine, the cases have provided a shot in the arm for the troubled preschool DVD sector.

The boxes bowed 18 months ago and have since driven up preschool back-catalogue sales at Aussie mass retail by 20%.