Cookie Jar and DiC To Merge

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stayhomemom

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It seems like Cookie Jar has got the AG franchises (although this article is specifically the revival of Strawberry Shortcake) with 2 days to spare!

And with these acquisitiond, The Cookie Jar Company may be going into the billion dollar range soon.


PRESS RELEASE:

Toronto – (April 27, 2009) CPLG Canada will be representing all licensing for the evergreen girls' property Strawberry Shortcake, throughout the country. Building on Strawberry Shortcake's enduring appeal, CPLG Canada will continue to fuel the brand's impressive 30-year track record with a slate of new entertainment and product launches featuring its new look.

"CPLG Canada is excited to be working on this powerful girl's brand," said Kelly Elwood, CPLG Canada Managing Director. "With 2010 marking the 30th anniversary for Strawberry Shortcake, we expect a great deal of consumer excitement and interest at retail."

Strawberry Shortcake has generated more than $2.7 billion in worldwide retail sales since 2002. This multi-dimensional franchise has attracted nearly 500 licensees worldwide. As the global licensing agent for Strawberry Shortcake under a long-term agreement with American Greetings, Cookie Jar Entertainment, parent company of CPLG, is a strategic partner in the brand's growing success.

Fox Home Entertainment is set to launch a new DVD in Canada and the US, The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: The Sky's the Limit. This full-length DVD adventure takes Strawberry Shortcake and her friends on a fun-filled journey that proves that creativity, a careful plan and lots of girl power can solve all sorts of problems. Peace Arch Entertainment has released 17 Strawberry Shortcake DVDs in French-speaking Canada with Amis Pour Toujours (Happily Ever After) planned for July 2009. Treehouse, the popular Canadian preschool destination, will air 10 Strawberry Shortcake specials this year.

Hasbro, the global master toy licensee, will debut a new line of fruit-scented Strawberry Shortcake toys in August, featuring the brand's new look. It will include playsets, vehicles and small dolls. Re-imagined for a whole new generation of girls, the Strawberry Shortcake characters and the world they live in will be small in scale, but big on adventure, friendship, fashion and fun.

Cookie Jar Entertainment also has signed a host of new licensees in North America in a variety of categories including HBA products and publishing. CPLG Canada has renewed contracts with top Canadian licensees: Buzzerk (underwear), NTD (apparel and sleepwear) and Calego (bags) and is working with partners in all major categories to create products that will reflect Strawberry Shortcake's fresh, new look and storyline.

About CPLG
CPLG is the leading Entertainment and Sport licensing agency in Europe with offices in the UK, Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. CPLG has global reach having recently opened a CPLG office in Canada and has international agencies servicing the rest of the world. With over 34 years experience in the licensing industry, CPLG's often-imitated company structure provides each of its clients with dedicated licensing, marketing and industry professionals and a fully-integrated design, legal and accounting service.









FYI , CPLG is also owned by Cookie Jar.
 
According to TV Week, Cookie Jar, makers of Johnny Test, World of Quest, Arthur, Gerald McBoing Boing, and a number of shows, are buying DiC Entertainment, makers of Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, and over 6000 half-hours of programming and numerous merchandising and licensing properties for about $31 million, including all debts and such.

DiC becomes a subsidary of Cookie Jar.

This also means that Cookie Jar will also own all of DiC's properties, including the KEWLopolis block on CBS and DiC's ownership in the global KidsCo channel along with NBC Universal and Corus Entertainment.

Suddenly, Cookie Jar owns a huge chunk of animation history.
 
Anyone besides me notice the lack of Shout Factory's DVD boxsets of the cartoons that they were licensed to release by DiC? Maybe it's just the store I go to, but I'm seeing severe lack of them yet a load of Cookie Jar's crappy single DVD releases. Did the merger effect that deal?
 
Well, I was not expecting this. Maybe some of Cookie Jar's shows will air on KEWLopolis eventually. Still, its weird that they would buy out DiC.

Am I the only one that thinks about cookies when I hear about Cookie Jar?
 
I just found our region's version of the channel up among the HD channel in the upper regions of our cable system. As mentioned, the animated shows run in the mornings and include Animal Crackers, Spider Riders, The Miss Mallard Mysteries, Paddington Bear, Flight Squad, and Robinson Sucroe.
 
Just so there's no confusion, the "17 DVDs" the press release mentions are actually the same ones America gets. It (the press release) refers to the Canadian French dub of the current series which began in 2003. When I saw "Happily Ever After" (the name of one of the more recent U.S. DVDs), that's when I knew.
 
Unfortunately, American Greetings Corporation was able to temporarliy block the merger on the grounds that their agreement with DIC gives them the right to prevent such things from happening without their consent.

Off-topic, but somewhat related, AG successfully was able to prevent S'More Entertainment from releasing a DVD of The Get-Along Gang, a show that features what is technically AG's characters.

DIC is of course, not happy with AG's actions, and neither is Cookie Jar (formerly CINAR).

The Toon Zone article talks all about it.
 
Wait.. There's a channel currently showing Robinson Sucroe and Animal Crackers? I used to love both of those shows when they were on Teletoon back in the 90's. Anybody know what channel this is?
 
Well well, a great animation company buys out a company that used to be great. And if they now own the KEWLopolis block...

CW4Kids might actually have some competition if Cookie Jar can put together their own block. Oh, the possibilities.
 
It's always good to see how mergers and corporate businesses effect the viewers, or more so, the fans.
Namely us.

I wonder if this will increase our chance of getting that Kidsco channel........



Not to mention the world's largest independent library of animation.

This is pretty big stuff.
 
Hmm, well in a way, it was given a very good chance on KidsWB/CW4Kids - it had Spiderman as a lead-in, which would be a huge boost for any show. But it lost too many viewers from that boost - it was obvious from the ratings that too many times, viewers were tuning away from WoQ and then back in again for Johnny Test. And that is bad, very bad. And so it got dumped.

But I'm all for WoQ's return - IF it gets some decent writing. That caused its demise, not scheduling or any other factor.
 
It's a network/channel called THIS TV. My area's channel appears to be a digital subchannel run by a local station that's been on the air for a while. It's probably only available in the U.S. and on a local level. They show old live action TV shows and films, too. I just found it a few days ago.
 
Holy smokes I didn't see that coming!

I guess that after getting through all that trouble Cinar had, Cookie Jar really deserves some success! I hope everything goes through despite AG...Hopefully they'll make a new comedy series in the mold of Robinson Sucroe, Albert the Fifth Musketeer and Patrol 03... those were fun.


With some cookie jar input I bet a new Inspector Gadget would rock!
 
Well, I recently spoke to a employee of Cookie Jar Entertainment in Burbank yesterday (where DIC's old headquarters was at) and she said that Cookie Jar programming (including shows courtesy of Cookie Jar (except Arthur, co ownership) (Johnny Test, Caillou, Dark Oracle, World Of Quest, Spider Riders, Magi-Nation), CINAR (The Baskervilles, Animal Crackers, Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, Treasure, The Twins, Flight Squad), FilmFair (The Wombles, Paddington Bear, Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings) and DIC Entertainment (Inspector Gadget, Sushi Pack, Mummies Alive!, Dino Squad, The Littles) will (in a couple of months) be streamed online on their Cookie Jar site (Cookie Jar TV) and another site (Jaroo.net).

Now, the shows I've listed may or may not be on either site (They're trying hard as they can), but she did say that it's going to be a big chunk of the Cookie Jar library on there. I didn't ask her on the fate of the KEWLCartoons site (which currently streams DIC and ABC properties), but I have a hunch that will be either reformed, merged with the new Jaroo site or taken over. It'll be sweet for Americans (like me) to see shows that wasn't seen in America for free.

And, there will be some changes on Cookie Jar's KEWLopolis this fall on CBS with some Cookie Jar produced shows coming on there (Some). There is no schedule yet (though I know for a fact that Cake is absolutely gone now), so expect it at least next month or August. Even though it's just six shows, it's nice that another Canadian company (Nelvana was the first, exactly 10 years ago in 1998) is running the CBS SatAM block. Hopefully, it'll be changes for the better.

- John D. Timmons (Haven't used my last name on here in 2 years)


P.S.: Cookie Jar is being sued by American Greetings for the Strawberry Shortcake/Care Bears/Sushi Pack properties.
 
Well, what I meant was more that it was introduced during the dying hours of Kids WB, so it wasn't given a fair shot on a block that actually wanted it (CW4Kids certainly didn't). Plus, if it were to air on CBS, it'd actually be one of the WATCHABLE shows on the block, so it'd could do pretty well.

And yes, a second season with better writers would be great.
 
Don't count on it. KEWLopolis is strictly an E/I block as the contract between DiC and CBS states. Even if Cookie Jar aquires DiC and they were to start airing some of their shows on KEWLopolis, they would have to change the tone drastically to make it E/I format. Contract terms don't change just because of mergers.
 
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