VisionTV has acquired the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights to the political satire series Servant of the People, which was created by and stars Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) before he assumed office.

The 2015-19 sitcom has a bit of a meta premise. Zelensky portrays a high school teacher who is unexpectedly elected as president of Ukraine after a video of himself ranting about government corruption goes viral. VisionTV will premiere Servant of the People on April 5 in the original Ukrainian with English subtitles.

Spin Master

Skydance Animation has inked a multi-year agreement making Spin Master its master toy licensee. The first Skydance property to launch under the new partnership will be Apple TV+ film Spellbound. Spin Master is creating dolls and vehicles based on the musical adventure pic, which doesn’t have a release date yet.

The Toronto-based company also has the rights to develop toy lines for several other upcoming Skydance films, but the partners are not sharing which titles will be next up for licensing and merchandising. Skydance hired former Walt Disney exec Luis Fernández as its first head of consumer products last year, with a remit to set and execute the studio’s licensing and retail strategy.

Nelvana

Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has renewed its partnership to be the exclusive merchandising representative for Sesame Street in Canada. Nelvana has also brokered several new deals for the franchise in Canada within key consumer product categories, including bringing on e-commerce apparel partner Retrokid.

Other new licensees include natural food partner Nola, novelty toy partners Glo Pals, Bright Time Toys, and Quinco & Cie. The deals also include an expansion of Webber Natural Pharmaceuticals’ Sesame Street vitamin program. Nelvana’s partnership with Sesame Street started in 2018.

Meanwhile, Nelvana Enterprises and The Clifford Ross Company have partnered with France’s Lunii to bring new stories of Babar, the king of the elephants, to its online audio platform, Luniistore. The audio album of Babar Visits the Elephant Kingdoms comprises 12 x seven-minute original audio stories available for download on Lunii’s website.

Nelvana worked directly with Lunii to create the Babar content, marking their first partnership. The Babar IP is owned by Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company.

TV5 Québec 

TV5 Québec has picked up season two of the animated series Nate is Late, produced by Paris-based Watch Next Media and commissioned by France Télévisions, Canal J of France, and Germany’s Super RTL.

The acquisition is part of several deals Paris-based Kids First has inked with international broadcasters for the comedy adventure series, which is geared to audiences ages six to 10. The show features eight-year-old Nate and Malika, whose morning adventures delay their journey to school.

With files from Kidscreen