HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

Hit Entertainment Inks Deal With National Geographic Channel To Bring Internationally-Acclaimed Series The Pingu Show™ To Latin America For The First Time

09/17/2008

New York, NY

HIT Entertainment, a leading provider of quality preschool entertainment, and National Geographic Channel, a subscription television network servicing more than 22 million homes in Latin America, have partnered to launch The Pingu Show in October. This deal marks the debut of the internationally-acclaimed animated series in Latin America.

The National Geographic Channel has committed to air 26 episodes of The Pingu Show, showing on weekends during "Nat Geo and Me", its block oriented to preschoolers. This will be the first time The Pingu Show has aired in Latin America.

The Pingu Show was created by Swiss animators Otmar Gitman and Harold Muecke. The unique and quirky show follows the adventures of a sometimes mischievous and clumsy penguin as he plays and interacts with his family and friends. Pingu lives in the Antarctic and does all of the things one might do as a young penguin - discover vast musical ice caves, play fish tennis, misplace your sister, find a treasure map and periodically enrage most of the local penguin population in one way or another. Although Pingu speaks "Penguinese," the program's narration will be dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese (for Brazil).

"We are thrilled to partner with the National Geographic Channel for the first time to bring quality preschool entertainment like The Pingu Show to the region," said Rodrigo Piza, Vice President Television Canada, US Hispanic and Latin America for HIT Entertainment. "We look forward to growing our relationship with Nat Geo in Latin America to help the network reach more children with programs that encourage imagination and learning."

"Nat Geo and Me is the first branded block for preschoolers supported by the National Geographic Society, one of the leading non-profit educational and scientific institutions in the world. We are fully committed to bring educational entertainment content to our audience and The Pingu Show fulfills perfectly that premise," said Gonzalo Fiure, VP, Content Strategy, Fox Latin American Channels.

About the National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) invites viewers to re-think the way they see television - and the world - with smart, innovative programming. A business enterprise owned by National Geographic Television (NGT) and FOX Entertainment Group, NGCI contributes to the National Geographic Society's commitment to exploration, conservation and education through its five channels: National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure and Nat Geo Music. Globally, National Geographic Channel (including NGC U.S. which is a joint venture of NGT and Fox Cable Networks Group) is available in 270 million homes (including day-part households) in 168 countries and 34 languages. www.natgeo.tv

About HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners since June 2005, is one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT’s portfolio includes internationally renowned children’s properties, such as Bob the Builder™, Barney™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Rubbadubbers™ and Angelina Ballerina™. HIT acts as a representative for The Wiggles® in the UK, US and Canada and as worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company’s library of classic family brands, including Fraggle Rock™. HIT also owns the Guinness World Records™ publishing and television property and Fireman Sam™, a joint venture with S4C. Launched in 1989, HIT’s lines of business span television and video production (including studios in the US and the UK), publishing, consumer products licensing and live events. With a catalog of more than 1,000 hours of young children’s programming, HIT sells its shows to more than 240 countries worldwide, in more than 40 different languages and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2005, the Company joined Comcast Corporation, PBS and Sesame Workshop to launch PBS KIDS Sprout℠, a 24-hour digital cable channel and VOD service for preschoolers. For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.