DreamWorks Animation has partnered with Super RTL, Europe’s most watched children’s network, to supply the network with over 1,200 hours of programming for the next seven years. Super RTL currently has a deal in place with Disney for its exclusive programming, but that deal ends at the end of this year allowing DreamWorks to fill the void.
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Super RTL’s managing director, Claude Schmitt, met in Los Angeles last week to hammer out the deal, which will amount to over 10% of Super RTL’s daytime programming. Disney currently provides 30% of the programming and Super RTL plans to increase production on more in-house projects to fill the daily schedule.
The deal with DreamWorks Animation is said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, to include content from the recently acquired Classic Media archives that DWA snatched up last year for $155 million. The Classic Media portfolio includes classic TV shows such as Lassie, The Lone Ranger, and George of the Jungle. DreamWorks Animation original programming, set to begin airing in Europe next year, includes the 20-episode How To Train Your Dragon spinoff series, which is called Dragons: Riders of Berk, and the new show Turbo: F.A.S.T., based off the eagerly anticipated DWA summer theatrical release, Turbo.
Disney did not renew its deal with Super RTL due to the pending launch of the Disney Channel Germany, which launches next year and will feature 24 hour programming from the Disney archives.
Animation Fascination 