Animation from Universal Music is snapped up by broadcasters across the globe

Universal Music has announced a series of new broadcasting deals for Uki - the award-winning pre-school animation series.

Uki is a cute yellow character who is never without a smile and, with his unlimited curiosity and innate sense of fun, is a true reflection of his young audience. First developed by Universal Music Belgium, the property comprises 52 x 5 minute episodes and each one sees Uki take his young viewers along on his adventures and uses sounds, laughter and smiles, rather than words, to encourage them to join in. The new deals have been signed with Nickelodeon (Germany), Rai (Italy), TVNZ (New Zealand), Minimax (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia), Télé Québec (Canada) and RTP + Canal Panda (Portugal). This adds to an established television presence for the show, with Uki already delighting audiences in the UK through CBeebies and in Belgium through Ketnet and Club RTL. The series has also been sold to broadcasters in Australia, Finland, Norway, Poland, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan, the Middle East, and South-east Asia. The show is Universal’s first animated TV series and its success has led to the production of a second one – Klumpies - that airs in Belgium on VRT and RTL and is currently being distributed by BBC Worldwide.

Peter Decraene, Universal Music Belgium’s Director of Kids TV Entertainment, is delighted with the latest TV deals: “We are very happy to see our little friend Uki being added to the schedules of important broadcasters throughout the world,” he says, “a year after its launch in Belgium, Uki is now present in over 50 territories and it looks like new territories will be added soon.”

The licensing sector has been quick to pick up on Uki’s increasing popularity and a burgeoning programme is now in place - Uki DVDs are available through Universal whilst Egmont is set to launch aseries of Uki books on to the UK market in July that include 10 Minute Tales, Pocket Library books, annuals, colouring/activity books and story books.

“Uki is proving to be enormously successful on TV and that is generating significant interest from licensees so there will be plenty more to come from the brand in licensing terms” says Neil Jennings, Director of Business Development at Universal Music UK, who is responsible for the Uki licensing programme.