TORONTO and LONDON – Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana is joining forces with Discovery Communications on a new venture that will produce kids content for the global market.
Based in Canada, the yet-to-be named venture will operate independently of Corus, Discovery and Nelvana’s other services, and will be dedicated to the production of children’s content across linear and digital platforms. The venture combines the Discovery Kids business in Latin America, and Corus’ suite of kids’ channels in Canada – both of whom will commission content from the new production company. It will also acquire intellectual property rights to agreed brands, characters, and concepts from Nelvana and Discovery for development and production.
The initiative increases Nelvana’s production and distribution business on a global scale, and is the next step in Discovery’s expansion of its kids’ business, reads the news release.
“This new venture was born from two businesses who have built a reputation for entertaining, inspiring, and informative storytelling,” said Nelvana president Scott Dyer, in the release. “The inception of the venture comes at a time of strong and increasing demand for kids’ content globally, boosted by insatiable viewing via digital streaming services. Our mutual goal is to create a new pipeline of kids’ content for distribution across the world.”
“Kids’ video entertainment is a strong and growing genre for Discovery spearheaded by Discovery Kids, our market-leading pay TV channel and TVE service in Latin America,” added Carolina Lightcap, EVP and chief content officer at Discovery Latin America. “Corus and Nelvana are fantastic businesses with a venerable track-record of creating world-class properties. Together, this agreement furthers our role in the premium kids’ content creation business so we can co-produce and distribute fun and entertaining programs for kids and families across all screens.”
