BBC Studios announces today that the Emmy® Award-winning animated series Bluey will broadcast more widely across Japan with TV Tokyo set to launch the series onto 6 group television networks from April.
The beloved animated series will be available to watch across the 6 TXN Networks including TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TV Setouchi, TV Hokkaido and TV Kyushu which cover over 70% of national households.
Previously available within the greater Tokyo area, the upcoming nationwide syndication follows the successful launch of Bluey Season 1 on TV Tokyo’s “Eeny meeny miny moe” slot every Saturday morning at 7:00am.
Fans across Japan will soon be able to watch Bluey S1 and S2 on their TV screens at a new extended time slot every Sunday at 7:00am, starting from 6th April. Episodes will be available in Japanese as well as in the original English audio, featuring the original voices of Mum and Dad, Melanie Zanetti and Dave McCormack.
In celebration of Bluey’s expanded reach across the country, Bluey and Bingo will be embarking on a Bluey Bus Tour at the end of March to 7 districts, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and more. Children living in Tokyo and Yokohama in Kanagawa will be invited to ride along on the Bluey Bus Tour through the BBC Studios’ Japanese Bluey Instagram account @bluey_jp. The application period will run from Feb 23 and winners will be announced by March 10.
The award-winning preschool toys based on the series will officially be hitting shelves in Japan for the first time in autumn this year. BBC Studios has appointed Tomy to be the local distributor for the toy range licensed globally by Moose Toys, which will include plush toys and figurines. Six new LEGO Bluey products within the LEGO 4+ and LEGO® DUPLO® product lines are also set to launch in Japan in the next few months.
BBC Studios has also appointed Phoenixx Inc. to be the master agent for the Bluey licensing programme in Japan. BBC Studios and Phoenixx Inc. will work closely together to implement a full consumer products programme.
Sophia Spinelli, VP Brands & Marketing, BBC Studios Asia, said:
Bluey has quickly become one of the best-loved and most highly-awarded animation series in the world. We are excited to expand our partnership with TV Tokyo to bring the global hit series Bluey into more Japanese homes and to work alongside our dedicated agency Phoenixx Inc. to introduce more consumer products locally. We’ve seen amazing reactions from fans around the world to the globally successful range of Bluey toys and we are working towards future plans that will enable Japanese fans to fully immerse themselves in Bluey’s fun-filled world in new and exciting ways.
