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- Brand-focussed structure including adult brands
- New business title Children's and Licensing
- Improved infrastructure to maximise content from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and Indie community
- Extended relationship with Ragdoll in North America confirmed
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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide today announced the restructure of its children's business under the leadership of new Managing Director Neil Ross Russell.
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The business, which will be renamed Children's and Licensing, will be structured with three main strands focussing on pre-school, pre-teen and adult licensing.
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The name change reflects the importance of maximising global licensing opportunities for adult brands such as Top Gear and Planet Earth in addition to award-winning hits such as In the Night Garden, Teletubbies, Doctor Who and Charlie and Lola, in order to channel the profit back into children's programming at the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
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Neil Ross Russell, Managing Director of Children's and Licensing, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide said: "Coming to this role, it was clear to me that we have a exceptional pipeline of content from the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ with brands like Planet Earth and Top Gear, and from Indies with our partners such as Tiger Aspect and Ragdoll.
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"The growing success of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ channels internationally also provides us with great broadcast platforms but we are not currently set up to make the most of licensing opportunities outside of the UK."
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Speaking of the new structure Ross Russell said: "At a time when there are more brands than ever in the market, this new structure will allow us to provide each brand in our portfolio with the focus and attention it deserves."
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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide today also announced a new agreement with joint venture partner Ragdoll which sees them oversee U.S and Canada TV sales and licensing for programmes such as Teletubbies and In the Night Garden. With the addition of North America, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide now represents global distribution rights, excluding UK broadcast, for all Ragdoll properties.
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Mark Hollingsworth, CEO of Ragdoll said: "Following the creation of the joint venture between Ragdoll and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide, it is a natural progression for Ragdoll to merge its North American Division with the Children's and Licensing team at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide in New York. This further strengthens our partnership with ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide as we extend our collaboration in managing the Ragdoll portfolio in the U.S and Canada."
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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide Children's and Licensing, will also look to explore new opportunities for brands in the US with the recruitment of a newly created role of Global Head of Licensing. The role will be based in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's New York office and sit alongside Susanna Pollack, SVP TV Sales, Co-Productions & Children's and her team.
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About Ragdoll
Ragdoll Limited, a privately-owned family company, was founded by acclaimed children's television programme maker, Anne Wood, in 1984 and has produced more than 1,400 programmes aimed at the youngest viewers.
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Ragdoll programming, including the phenomenally-successful, BAFTA-winning Teletubbies that celebrated 10 years on television in 2007 has achieved international recognition and can be seen in more than 120 countries and territories around the world. Ragdoll's latest commissions for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Television includes BAFTA-winning In the Night Garden created by Ragdoll's lead author Andrew Davenport.Ìý
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In September 2006, Ragdoll and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide formed a new joint venture, Ragdoll Worldwide, to manage and exploit the Ragdoll catalogue, though Ragdoll retains all UK broadcast rights.
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For more information on Ragdoll visit .
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Anna Kingsley
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NB - The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external websites.
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