Tata & Kuma and Princess Mirror-Belle launching this year; Summer Memories,
Dorg Van Dango and Spongo, Fuzz and Jalapeña currently available to stream
Toronto, ON – August 10, 2023 – WildBrain, a global leader in kids’ and family entertainment, has inked a new distribution agreement with Roku, which will see the popular kids’ shows Tata & Kuma and Princess Mirror-Belle launch on The Roku Channel in the US this year. The shows join additional WildBrain shows already available on the free ad-supported streaming service, including Summer Memories, Dorg Van Dango and Spongo, Fuzz and Jalapeña.
Caroline Tyre, VP Global Sales & Rights Strategy at WildBrain, said: “We’re delighted to be expanding our slate of animated and live-action kids’ shows for The Roku Channel’s audience in the US. Roku is a powerhouse hub for audience engagement, and we’re pleased to build our partnership as families continue to discover and enjoy WildBrain’s shows on the platform.”
“Kids & Family on The Roku Channel strives to bring families the best of kids entertainment for free,” said Jennifer Vaux, Vice President of Content Acquisition & Programming, Roku Media. “We’re thrilled to work with our great partners at WildBrain to bring families even more exclusive programming featuring beloved characters and stories to stream on The Roku Channel.”
About the series
Tata & Kuma, Season 1 (13 x 11’) – Launching Q4 2023
Genius inventor dog Tata and chubby easy-going cat Kuma live with their owner, Mei, in Room 1004 of an ordinary apartment building. However, when Mei goes to work each day, anything but ordinary ensues. If Tata or Kuma want to take top spot on the couch, they will have to deal with a cast of oddball characters and neighbours – Pobi the vampire bunny, Chen Pong the kung-fu fighting analog cellphone, and Captain Storm and his mouse mercenary corps – all vying to conquer the living room of Room 1004. Tata & Kuma is produced by 5Bricks.
Princess Mirror-Belle, Season 1 (13 x 22’) – Launching Q4 2023
Ten-year-old Ellen gets a huge shock when her reflection springs to life as a feisty princess from a fairy tale land! Princess Mirror-Belle is a comedy drama series based on books by Julia Donaldson, produced by BBC Studios Kids & Family Production.
Summer Memories, Season 1 (40 x 11’) & Shorts (20 x 4’) – Now Available
Summer Memories is aimed at kids 6-12 years old and follows the adventures of best friends Jason and Ronnie as Jason looks back on the most pivotal summer of his life (which was just a few weeks ago). This is Jason’s summer of change…and he fears change! Lucky for him, he has charismatic life-adventurer Ronnie at his side. Summer Memories transcends time, space and memory—the good and the bad—as it chronicles Jason and Ronnie’s sweet, fun-filled relationship. Summer Memories is created by Adam Yaniv and produced by A&N Productions, Aircraft Pictures and Yeti Farm Creative.
Dorg Van Dango, Season 1 (26 x 22’) – Now available
Dorg Van Dango is a normal kid with 4 magical best friends! Disguised as teens, Jet the unicorn, RD the alien, Yooki the ghost, and Patronella the witch try to help Dorg navigate ordinary life—but when magical mayhem ensues, Dorg must save the day. Dorg Van Dango is produced by Cartoon Saloon.
Spongo, Fuzz and Jalapeña, Season 1 (13 x 22’) – Now available
In Champignon, every day there’s a bonkers new world championship. Best friends, Spongo, Fuzz & Jalapeña, just want to win a trophy… any trophy. With stiff competition and Taylor Le Strange thwarting their every move, they must stick together to win. Spongo, Fuzz and Jalapeña is produced by Cheeky Little Media.
Launched in 2017, The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. In Q4 2022, The Roku Channel reached U.S. households with an estimated 100 million people. The Roku Channel was a top five channel on the Roku platform in the U.S. by active account reach and streaming hour engagement in Q2 2023. Today, The Roku Channel features a diverse lineup of more than 80,000 free movies and programs and more than 350 free live linear television channels in the U.S. It licenses and distributes content from more than 250 partners.
For more information, please contact:
Aimée Norman at The DDA Group
aimee.norman@ddapr.com
+44 (0) 7957 564 050
About WildBrain
At WildBrain we inspire imaginations to run wild, engaging kids and families everywhere with great content and beloved brands. With approximately 13,000 half-hours of filmed entertainment in our library—one of the world’s most extensive—we are home to such treasured franchises as Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Inspector Gadget and Degrassi. Our integrated, in-house capabilities spanning production, distribution and licensing set us apart as a unique independent player in the industry, managing IP across its entire lifecycle, from concept to content to consumer products.
At our state-of-the-art animation studio in Vancouver, we produce award-winning, fan-favourite series, such as The Snoopy Show; Snoopy in Space; Sonic Prime; Chip and Potato; Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City; Carmen Sandiego; Go, Dog. Go! and many more. Enjoyed in more than 150 countries and on over 500 streaming platforms and telecasters, our content is everywhere kids and families view entertainment. WildBrain Spark, our AVOD network, has garnered over 1 trillion minutes of watch time on YouTube, offering one of the largest selections of kids’ content on that platform. Our leading consumer-products and location-based entertainment agency, WildBrain CPLG, represents our owned and partner properties in every major territory worldwide. Our television group owns and operates some of Canada’s most-viewed family entertainment channels.
WildBrain is headquartered in Canada with offices worldwide and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: WILD). Visit us at wildbrain.com.
About Roku Inc.
Roku pioneered streaming on TV. We connect users to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Roku TV™ models, Roku streaming players, and TV-related audio devices are available in various countries around the world through direct retail sales and/or licensing arrangements with TV OEM brands. Roku-branded TVs and Roku Smart Home products are sold exclusively in the United States. Roku also operates The Roku Channel, the home of free and premium entertainment with exclusive access to Roku Originals. The Roku Channel is available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., U.S.A.
Roku is a registered trademark of Roku, Inc. In the United States. Tradenames, trademarks, and service marks of other companies appearing in this press release are the property of their respective holders.