Academy Award®-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation is continuing to expand its footprint in Central Eastern Europe with a wave of broadcast deals across its slate of new and established programming, including Oggy Oggy, Athleticus, Pfffirates, Where’s Chicky? and more.
Céline Carenco, SVP Media Distribution at Xilam Animation, said:
Over the last few years, we’ve seen the popularity of our programming continue to grow across Central Eastern Europe with no signs of slowing down. It’s fantastic to have such a solid stable of broadcasters on board who are picking up our content in significant volumes across both our newer and iconic, well-loved series. In particular, our sports comedy series Athleticus has captured the Olympic fever that has been seen around the world, and we’re sure its new viewers will be entertained by the offbeat nature of the hilarious animal characters.
For the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Xilam inked a raft of deals for Cube Creative’s sports comedy series Athleticus, including with MTVA (Hungary), Ceska TV (Czech Republic), HRT (Croatia), RTVS (Slovakia), and Kanal 2 (Estonia). In addition, HRT (Croatia) picked up Oggy Oggy season 1 (78 x 7′), the hit preschool spin-off to its iconic Oggy and the Cockroaches franchise, and in Slovakia, RTVS has added Xilam and Boréales’ children’s wildlife docuseries If I Were An Animal (52 x 5’).
Xilam has seen success across its slate in Hungary, with MTVA acquiring comedy action series Pfffirates (52 x 11’), also produced by Cube Creative. Additionally, the deal with RTL Klub Hungary saw the broadcaster pick up a total of 170 hours of programming, including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko, The Adventures of Bernie, Where’s Chicky?, Lupin’s Tales, The Daltons and Floopaloo. In Ukraine, broadcaster 1+1 and the platform MEGOGO have picked up more than 224 total hours of Xilam’s popular slapstick comedy series, with 1+1 adding Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko, and Where’s Chicky?, and Megogo acquiring Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko, Moka’s Fabulous Adventures and Pfffirates.
In addition, RTL Croatia has renewed Oggy and the Cockroaches seasons five to seven and Zig & Sharko seasons one to three, and have also acquired Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation and the fourth season of Zig & Sharko. In Romania, PRO TV has acquired all seasons of Zig & Sharko for their Voyo platform, which has recently launched in Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Xilam has also signed a partnership with Kidzone (Baltics) for its preschool comedy series Paprika as well as the third season of Xilam and Cube Creative’s hit short-form comedy Where’s Chicky?, marking the first time Xilam has partnered with the broadcaster. Additionally, LRT (Lithuania) has acquired Paprika for its slate, and in the Czech Republic, Nova TV has picked up Xilam’s non-dialogue slapstick property Karate Sheep (78 x 7’).
