Leading children’s and family entertainment producer and rights management company Coolabi has secured a major US broadcast deal with 24-hour preschool television channel Sprout for its brand new property Poppy Cat. The network, which airs in over 50 million households, has picked up US rights for the show and will air the 52 x 11-minute animated series later in 2011. Poppy Cat brings to animated life the wonderful world of the preschool children’s character created by Lara Jones in the Macmillan book series that has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. The series is co-produced by Coolabi’s television production arm Coolabi Productions and the Emmy shortlisted and BAFTA award-winning King Rollo Films.

Michael Dee, Director of Content at Coolabi says: “We are thrilled to be breaking into the competitive US marketplace. Securing an American broadcast deal for a UK-produced show is notoriously difficult, but clinching the deal before the show has even aired in the UK is a real coup for Coolabi. Sprout is the ideal home for Poppy Cat in the US and we are excited to bring this new pre-school property to new audiences as the show rolls out globally this year.”

“We are delighted with this opportunity to bring such a loveable, popular character from the pages of the Poppy Cat book series to millions of television screens all across the U.S.,” said Andrew Beecham, senior vice president of programming at Sprout. “We are dedicated to providing fresh, interactive, learning-based entertainment to preschoolers and their families and we’re thrilled that Poppy Cat is joining the Sprout family.”

As well as launching on Nick Jr UK in May, the series has also already been presold to a number of other international territories, including Nick Jr Australia, RTE Ireland, YLE Finland, TV2 Norway, and TVO, SCN and Knowledge Network in Canada, with further international deals to be announced shortly.