Cannes, France – Nelvana Enterprises announced today that it will distribute the beloved animated classic “Babar” through Azureus, Inc.’s newly enhanced broadband aggregation and distribution platform, Vuze. Vuze will create a new passionate fan base for “Babar” by offering the series and feature films to the millions of users currently engaged on the platform.
All 78 episodes of the “Babar” television series, as well as the feature-length films, “Babar: King of the Elephants” and “Babar and Father Christmas,” will be available to rent or download-to-own in multiple languages at VUZE.com in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, the United States and Russia. The first two episodes will be available for free as a special incentive.
“We are excited to debut a classic brand on this emerging platform,” said Doug Murphy, President, Nelvana Enterprises, which is owned by Canada’s Corus Entertainment Inc. “Babar’s popularity the world over, with our quality, language-versioned content and Azureus’ leading technological peer-to-peer network makes for a winning combination.”
“With new users discovering Vuze every day, we are excited that a large global audience will now have the opportunity to become acquainted with Babar in a very dynamic way,” said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Azureus. “Through Vuze, old fans can instantly reconnect with their favorite elephant and recommend the show to their friends, while new fans from around the world can discover and embrace the classic series and movies.”
The Vuze platform provides long-form, high quality video to a global audience via the Internet’s most popular media peer-to-peer (P2P) application. With an already robust global community, Vuze enables users to browse, share and discover high-quality self-published content as well as licensed, premium content from worldwide media companies.
Inspired by the classic children’s books by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff, Babar the television series chronicles his rise to become King of the Elephants, as he builds the magical kingdom of Celestville along the way. A cherished and enduring property, Babar celebrated his 75th anniversary last year.
About Nelvana Enterprises:
With a focus on delivering quality branded entertainment as well as providing distribution and merchandise licensing opportunities on multiple platforms, Nelvana Enterprises oversees new media partnerships, global broadcast, DVD and video-on-demand sales, and consumer products licensing internationally for animated properties from Nelvana Studios and select production partners. Nelvana Enterprises stable of award-winning and globally renowned brands include literary classics Babar and Franklin as well as new shows such as Ruby Gloom and Di-Gata Defenders. Nelvana Enterprises is owned by Corus Entertainment Inc., a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, advertising and digital audio services, television broadcasting, children’s book publishing and children’s animation. The company’s multimedia entertainment brands include YTV, Treehouse, W Network, Movie Central, Nelvana, Kids Can Press and radio stations including CKNW, CKOI and Q107. Corus creates engaging branded entertainment experiences for its audiences across multiple platforms. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR.B) and New York (CJR) exchanges. Experience Corus on the web at www.corusent.com.
About Azureus, Inc.:
Azureus Inc. is the provider of the most popular P2P application for the transfer of large media files. With more than three years of technology innovation, proven robustness, and more than 140 million downloads of its application, Azureus users connect with one another from more than 100 countries and 40 languages.
Today, Azureus operates Vuze, a leading global video aggregation and distribution platform driven by the exchange of long-form, High Definition or DVD quality videos, as well as licensed digital content from leading media companies. The company has recently announced content partnerships with Showtime, A&E Networks (including A&E, The History Channel and The Biography Channel), BBC Worldwide, Bennett Media Worldwide, G4 TV, National Geographic and Starz Media.
The new commercial-grade platform is supported by powerful peer-sharing technology, enabling its vast global community the ability to browse, share, search and discover unique multimedia entertainment in a high-resolution format. Visit www.vuze.com for more information.
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