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Telescreen (company)

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Telescreen BV
IndustryAnimation, Production
Founded1983
FoundersDennis Livson
Jos Kaandorp
Defunct1998 (Japan)
SuccessorStudio 100 International
HeadquartersNetherlands and Finland, formerly Japan
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsChildren's television shows
Parent

Telescreen B.V. (formerly known as Telecable Benelux B.V.) was a Dutch television production & distribution company and a former animation studio that is specialised in producing and distributing kids & family entertainment content. It was established in 1983 by Finnish entrepreneur & producer Dennis Livson and Jos Kaandorp as a independent production & distribution company and was acquired by Japanese firm Mitsui, before being sold to Dutch production company Palm Plus Multimedia who handled Telescreen until 2005 before being sold to German company Made 4 Entertainment (m4e) in 2008. It has produced and distributed children's TV series such as Miffy, Moomin and Alfred J Kwak since 1983.

The international Consumer Products department manages and develops the merchandising programs of animated properties worldwide, such as Frog & Friends and Lizzie McGuire.

As licensing agent, they also represent some of the world's major entertainment companies in the Benelux territory, such as: BBC Worldwide, Turner Broadcasting, Chapman Entertainment and Aardman Animations.

The company services the full range of children's entertainment production, from animation production, TV distribution, home entertainment, consumer products, royalty administration to artwork coordination and creation.

History

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Telescreen B.V. was founded in 1983 under the name Telecable Benelux BV by Dennis Livson and Jos Kaandorp. In 1994, the name Telecable Benelux B.V. was changed into Telescreen B.V. Soon thereafter, Livson sold the company to the giant Japanese entertainment firm Mitsui & Company, which acquired the company through a spin-off subsidiary, Pri-mation Media B.V.

In 1993, Japanese trading corporate organisation & entertainment firm Mitsui Group acquired Telescreen from its Finnish entrepreneur, producer and co-founder Dennis Livson, giving the Japanese trading organisation their own Dutch production & distribution firm and had it placed under Pri-Mation Media.

In December 1998, Telescreen along with its former Dutch production/distribution and licensing parent company Pri-mation Media was acquired by Dutch producer and distributor Palm Plus Produkties from Japanese organisation Mitsui with Palm Plus becoming Telescreen's then-new parent holding company as a result of its acquisition, marking Palm Plus' entry into the kids & family entertainment market.[1][2] However seven years later on February 25, 2005, Palm Plus Multimedia would eventually exit the children's genre by selling Telescreen under a management buyout when Telescreen's CEO Ruud Van Breugel had stepped down, returning Telescreen into an independent distribution company as Palm Plus gained a 51% stake in Telescreen.[3]

In March 2003, Telescreen and its then-parent company Palm Plus Produkties announced that they have acquired the Egmont Imagination catalog from Danish publishing company Egmont Group outside the Nordic territories with Telescreen distributing the acquired catalog internationally except the Nordic territories with former Egmont Imagination president Tom van Waveren had been appointed as Telescreen's director of co-productions.[4]

In December 2008, the German brand management & media company Made 4 Entertainment (m4e) announced that they had acquired Dutch production & distribution firm Telescreen. This acquisition not only gave Telescreen a new parent company, but it also gave Made 4 Entertainment (m4e) their own Dutch international distribution subsidiary outside of Germany with the acquired company retained their properties and would begin distributing M4E's future productions.[5] One year later on February 19, 2009, following m4e's acquisition of Telescreen back in December 2008, m4e announced that they have restructured their operations by merging their distribution activities with Telescreen's own distribution business with Telescreen taking international distribution of m4e's TV, new media and home entertainment rights outside of Germany. Telescreen's licensing division Telescreen Licensing & Merchandising was renamed to Telescreen Consumer Products following the restructure.[6]

A month later on March 31 following Telescreen's restructure alongside m4e's, Telescreen alongside its German parent m4e acquired the worldwide rights to the Pinkeltje franchise.[7]

On April 5, 2011, Telescreen's parent company m4e through the latter's television division m4e Television announced that they have brought the back catalogue of German brand management company TV-Loonland AG expanding m4e's portfolio with Telescreen and its parent company m4e taken over international distribution of the TV Loonland library.[8][9]

In 2017, Studio 100 Media acquired a majority share in m4e, with their share increasing to 100% in 2020, making Telescreen B.V. and its library a subsidiary of Studio 100.

List of productions

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Television

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Title Years Network Notes
Ox Tales 1987–1988 VARA
TV Tokyo (Japan)
Wowser 1988–1989 TV Tokyo (Japan) co-production with J.C.Staff
Alfred J. Kwak 1989–1990 VARA
TV Tokyo (Japan)
ZDF (Germany)
TVE1 (Spain)		 co-production with VARA, ZDF, Televisión Española and TV Tokyo
Star Street 1989–1990
Moomin 1990–1992 VARA
TV Tokyo (Japan)
Yle TV1 (Finland)
NRK (Norway)		 Also known as Tales from Moominvalley
Currently owned by Moomin Characters Ltd
Miffy: The Classic Series 1992–1993 KRO co-production with Mercis BV, Kodansha and Gene Deitch Studios
Bamboo Bears[10] 1995 NPO 1
Canal J (France)
Kids Station (Japan)
ZDF (Germany)
TVE2 (Spain)		 co-production with Marina Productions, ZDF Enterprises and Mitsui
Currently distributed by Studio 100 International
The Famous Jett Jackson 1998–2001 Disney Channel European distribution only inherited from TV-Loonland AG
produced by Alliance Atlantis, Everyone Is JP Kids and TV-Loonland AG (Season 3)[11]
Currently distributed by Studio 100 International and WildBrain
Lizzie McGuire[12][13] 2001–2004 Disney Channel inherited from Egmont Imagination
co-production with Disney Channel and Stan Ragow Productions
Currently owned by Studio 100 International and Disney Platform Distribution
Miffy and Friends 2003–2005 KRO[14] co-production with Mercis BV
The Paz Show 2003–2006 CITV (United Kingdom)
Discovery Kids (United States)		 inheritated from Egmont Imagination
co-production with King Rollo Films for Discovery Kids
Frog & Friends 2008 KRO co-production with Rights at Work, Max Velthuijs Foundation and A. Film Production
Miffy's Adventures Big and Small[15] 2015–2017 KRO-NCRV
Tiny Pop[16] (United Kingdom)		 co-production with Mercis BV and Blue Zoo Animation Studio
Plonsters 1999 TBA Produced by Egmont Imagination and Anima Studio for Film & Grafik GmbH

Films

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Title Release date Distributor Notes
Comet in Moominland August 8, 1992 (Japan)
April 2, 1993 (Netherlands)		 Shochiku (Japan)
Finnkino (Finland)		 co-production with Telescreen Japan
Miffy the Movie[17] January 30, 2013 Warner Bros Pictures Benelux
6 Sales (International)		 as Telescreen Filmproducties
co-production with Mercis BV, KRO and A. Film Production
The Little Vampire 3D[18] October 4, 2017
October 26, 2017 (Germany)		 Entertainment One Benelux
Universum Film (Germany)		 co-production with First Look, Comet Film, A. Film Production, Cinema Management Group, Cool Beans, Rothkirch Cartoon-Film and Ambient Entertainment

References

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  1. ^ Edmunds, Marlene (December 18, 1998). "Palm buys Pri-mation, ups kidfare". Variety. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
  2. ^ "Amsterdam animator acquires ace licensing co". Kidscreen. January 1, 1999. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
  3. ^ Waller, Ed (May 5, 2005). "Palm Plus joins the Scandi format party". C21Media.
  4. ^ Ball, Ryal (March 10, 2003). "Dutch Telescreen/PPM Nabs Egmont Imagination's Catalog". Animation Magazine.
  5. ^ Claire Afan, Emily (December 18, 2008). "m4e acquires Telescreen". Kidscreen.
  6. ^ Claire Afan, Emily (February 17, 2009). "m4e announces new group structure". Kidscreen.
  7. ^ "Telescreen Buys Worldwide Rights to Pinkeltje". Animation World Network. March 31, 2009.
  8. ^ "m4e Scores TV-Loonland Properties". Worldscreen. April 5, 2011.
  9. ^ "m4e Acquires TV-Loonland Properties". Animation Magazine. April 5, 2011.
  10. ^ Paoli, Pacsal (April 1, 1996). "MIP-TV Special report: France taking co-production lead". Kidscreen.
  11. ^ Craig, Susanne (April 7, 2000). "Alliance Atlantis forms alliance with German firm". The Globe and Mail.
  12. ^ "Egmont and Southern Star team up for Tracey McBean". C21Media. May 8, 2001.
  13. ^ Johnson, Chris (December 19, 2001). "Egmont peddles McGuire across Europe and Asia". C21Media.
  14. ^ "Australian and Dutch Stations Buy Miffy". licensemag.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  15. ^ "Miffy gets CGI reboot". C21Media. April 4, 2014.
  16. ^ Franks, Nico (August 20, 2015). "UK network adds Miffy toon". C21Media.
  17. ^ "6 Sales secures deals for Miffy the Movie". screendaily.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  18. ^ Wolfe, Jennifer (May 16, 2014). "CMG Brings 'The Little Vampire' to Cannes". Animation World Network.
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