With MIPTV less than two weeks away, a number of prodcos have announced some early broadcast deals in hopes of building pre-market buzz and triggering an avalanche of me-too sales.

RDF Kids & Family has sold the first season of preschool series Big Barn Farm into France (Canal+), Israel (Hop! TV), Belgium (VRT), Hong Kong (TVB) and Italy (Disney), with Lagardere in Russia taking seasons one and two. CBeebies’ international channels will broadcast both seasons in Asia, India, Africa, the Caribbean, Poland and Australasia, and we’ll see if pigs can fly when the barnyard series debuts as part of Virgin Atlantic Airways’ in-flight entertainment lineup.

In the UK, CBeebies has ordered another 26 eps of Ludorum’s Chuggington. This re-up will goose the ep count to 78, with the new season launching in Q1 2010.

Spain’s Imira Entertainment is strengthening the presence of Lola & Virginia at home with a pay-TV rights renewal from TVE for another two years. The toon continues to air on La 2 and Clan TV, and Nickelodeon has just picked up pay-TV rights in Spain and Portugal. This local-market heat for Lola & Virginia is no doubt owing to a number of new brand-building initiatives, including a new live-action co-pro with Magnolia Spain and an animated feature film that was unveiled at Cartoon Movie earlier this month.

French distributor Moonscoop is also experiencing decent traction with its paper cutout animated series Ava Riko Teo. The 65 x seven-minute preschool co-pro with Character Plan, France 5 and EBS has been picked up by Rai 3 in Italy, Al Jazeera Children’s Channel in the Middle East, Disney Australia, MTV3 Finland, Hop! TV in Israel, Venevision and CEE channel JimJam.