LONDON — Classic Media Holdings, the U.S.-based rights holder specializing in children’s and family fare, has been snapped up by U.K. kids specialist Entertainment Rights for $210 million.
“The acquisition transforms ER’s presence in the world’s largest media market, the U.S., and offers an unprecedented opportunity to air ER’s programming on U.S. TV and to sell its merchandise through American retail outlets,” said ER chief exec Mike Heap. “We will be exploiting Classic’s high-level content for non-U.S. markets. There are strong cross-selling opportunities and synergies across the portfolios.”
The new catalog ranges from preschool to teen fare, totaling around 8,700 episodes. Titles include “Postman Pat,” “Casper the Friendly Ghost,” “Felix the Cat,” “She-Ra,” “Ghostbusters,” “The Lone Ranger” and “Veggie Tales.”
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Classic has offices in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles and employs around 80. A spokeswoman for ER said it is likely to take three to six months to integrate Classic and that no significant job cuts are expected. The company will continue to operate as Classic Media in the U.S.
Acquisition is subject to stockholder approval.
