About HIT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners, is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment's Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America and Japan, as well as Wallace & Gromit™, Shaun the Sheep™, Timmy Time™ and Aardman Classics from Aardman Animations. HIT also acts as a worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company's library of classic family brands and as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK.
Launched in 1989, HIT's lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing, live events and attractions and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of US preschool channel, PBS KIDS Sprout℠, and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the US, UK and China).
For more information, visit http://www.hitentertainment.com.
Peter Byrne Joins HIT Entertainment as Executive Vice President, International Licensing, Merchandising & Home Entertainment
09/15/2005London
The Board of HIT Entertainment today announced the appointment of Peter Byrne as Executive Vice President, International Licensing, Merchandising and Home Entertainment. Byrne's responsibilities include expanding the existing Consumer Products and Home Entertainment businesses for HIT's classic preschool brands, including Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Barney™, Pingu™ and Angelina Ballerina™ as well as launching new content across all major international territories. Byrne is based in the company's London office and reports to Bruce Steinberg, Chief Executive Officer.
Byrne has over 20 years experience in both Licensing and Consumer Products. Prior to joining HIT, he spent four years as Executive Vice President of 20th Century Fox's Global Licensing and Merchandising division, overseeing both the Television and Film roster for Consumer Products. During his tenure in the US he oversaw the company's largest theatrical merchandise campaign in support of the animated feature Robots and the US re-launch of the animated series, "The Simpsons".
He originally joined Fox in 1997 as Managing Director, Europe, launching the company's European licensing operations and then expanding its reach to include all other international territories. After successfully building an international licensing program for "The Simpsons", highlighted by a LIMA award for International License of the Year in 2000, Byrne moved to Los Angeles to head up the company's Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising operations.
Prior to Fox, he spent four years running multiple European subsidiary businesses on the Hanes and Champion brands for Sara Lee Corporation as Vice President,Northern Europe. He served as Managing Director, Germany for Fruit of the Loom and also oversaw the European brand launch as Marketing Director, Europe.
Prior to his time in the apparel and sportswear trades, Byrne held a number of senior sales and marketing positions in the toy industry with both Kenner and Matchbox.
"I am thrilled to be working with some of the most respected children's entertainment brands in the business today and look forward to the company's next major growth phase," said Byrne.
"Peter brings a wealth of international experience to HIT and I am delighted that he is joining the team to help drive the development of our fantastic brands around the world," said Steinberg.
Byrne's appointment is the latest in a series of executive moves made by HIT Entertainment, which was acquired by Apax Partners in May 2005. Led by a new management team headed by Greg Dyke, Non-Executive Chairman, and Bruce Steinberg, CEO, the company recently announced the hiring of Patricia Wyatt as President, North America and Alison Homewood as Executive Vice President, Worldwide Television Distribution.
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.
