Toronto’s Sinking Ship Entertainment has sold Odd Squad and Dino Dana to broadcasters in Canada and Europe. Quebecor Content has acquired the first season of Odd Squad (pictured) — a copro with Fred Rogers Productions in the U.S. — to air in French-speaking Canada, while France Télévisions has picked up season two on the heels of buying season one in March.

Barcelona-based Ypsilon also snapped up Spanish distribution rights to the third season. Targeting kids ages four to eight, Odd Squad (114 x 22 minutes) is currently airing on HBO Max (Latin America), BBC (U.K.), Kixi (Germany) and ABC TV (Australia).

Meanwhile, seasons one through five of live-action/CG hybrid series Dino Dana are headed to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, thanks to a deal with Duo Media Networks. And seasons one and two were sold to TFO and Quebecor Content in French-speaking Canada. The 52 x 22-minute preschool show premiered in 2017 on Amazon Prime Video and now airs in global markets including China (Youku), Australia (ABC TV) and Latin American (Nat Geo).

Spin Master 

Spin Master has bought Canada’s 4D Brands International in a move to further expand its product offering in the games category. The sale is likely to close in January, and then the plan is for 4D founder Shaun Sakdinan to join Spin Master as senior design director.

Spin has been on an M&A streak for some time as it works to build out its infrastructure in product categories adjacent to toys that can fully capitalize on its entertainment brands and licensing assets. Launched more than a decade ago, 4D broke into the toy market with its Cityscape 3D puzzles that replicate different cities around the world.

The purchase of 4D follows several other acquisitions Spin Master has closed in recent months to strengthen its toy and digital game portfolio. In August, the company bought Oklahoma-based board game manufacturer SolidRoots for an undisclosed amount. And in the digital games space, it picked up the rest of Stockholm-based developer Nørdlight, which is already working on leveraging popular kids IPs from its new owner’s brand portfolio, including PAW Patrol.

Radio-Canada

Paris-based production and distribution company Prime Entertainment Group has completed a deal with CBC/Radio-Canada’s French-language national public broadcaster for the documentary The Mysterious Disappearance of Christian Jambert (1 x 52 minutes), which explores the death of a policeman who was seen as a hero in his community.

The deal is the latest in Prime Entertainment’s ongoing relationship with CBC/Radio-Canada. Past titles that Prime has licensed to the pubcaster include Legal Drugs and Addictions, Criminal Wives: The Valerie Bacot Case, The Alexandra Richard Case and Plastic Island.

Dandelooo

French animation prodco and distributor Dandelooo has sold several of its preschool animated shows in Canada, including Picolo Pictures’ 2D TV special Shooom’s Odyssey (1 x 26 minutes) and the Supamonks Studio-produced series Pompon Little Bear (39 x 7 minutes) to Radio Canada.

Meanwhile, Knowledge Kids acquired Shooom’s Odyssey, Pompon Little Bear and Teidees and Televisió de Catalunya-produced series Jasmine & Jambo (26 x 7 minutes). TFO and TVO have also acquired Pompon Little Bear and Jasmine & Jambo.

Love Nature

Blue Ant Media-owned, natural history and wildlife content brand Love Nature has launched on Romanian PayTV platform DIGI. The deal expands Love Nature’s reach in the region after recent launches on Orange Romania, Focus Sat and the iNES Group.

Love Nature’s programming on DIGI will be fully localized with Romanian subtitles. The Washington, D.C.-headquartered brand is also available in the U.S. as a FAST (free, ad-supported television) channel on several platforms; in the U.K., Germany and Italy through Sky Nature; in China via Youku; in Singapore through Starhub; and the Netherlands via KPN and VodafoneZiggo.

With files from Kidscreen and Realscreen

Photo courtesy of Sinking Ship Entertainment