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TV-Loonland AG

German branding and management company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TV-Loonland AG

TV-Loonland AG was a German branding and management company that specialized in the production of children's programmes. The company's offices were located in Europe (Paris, Munich and London). The company's mascot is a sheep on a blue dome.

Quick Facts Formerly, Company type ...
TV-Loonland AG
FormerlyTMO Film GmbH (1989–1997)
TMO-Loonland Film GmbH (1997–2000)
Company typePrivate
IndustryAnimation
Film
Television
GenreChildren's animation
Founded1989; 36 years ago (1989)
FounderPeter Volkle
DefunctApril 5, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-04-05)
FateBankruptcy; assets were acquired by Made 4 Entertainment
SuccessorStudio 100
Headquarters
Unterföhring
,
Germany
DivisionsLoonland Merchandising
Loonland UK
Loonland Home Entertainment
Loonland Films
Loonland Online GmbH[1]
SubsidiariesLoonland Animation Ltd.
RG Prince Films
Salsa Entertainment
SRE Corporation
Sunbow Entertainment
Telemagination
Metrodome Distribution
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History

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Perspective

TMO Film GmbH was founded by Peter Volkle in 1989.[2] The company first began working on animated content within this time, and by 1993 began to produce popular animated content. The company then released its first film - Die Schelme von Schelm, in 1995. In the same year, the company opened up an animation studio in Hungary called Loonland Animation in Hungary which TMO later purchased a stake in. The company then rebranded as TMO-Loonland Film GmbH in 1997. The company later purchased a stake in RG Prince Films in Korea, and increased the number of programmes being produced.[3]

At the start of 2000, the company was rebranded to TV-Loonland AG.[3] In March, the company announced their plans to go public at the end of the month and signed a first-look distribution deal with Sony Wonder to represent their television catalogue for German-speaking and certain CEE regions.[4] The company also began to search for a UK sales agent for a planned expansion to the United Kingdom.[5] In April, the company signed a pan-european deal with AAC Kids for co-financing and distribution.[6] In September, the company purchased British animation studio Telemagination[7] and Latin American distributor Salsa Distribution, who represented products from The Jim Henson Company in these territories.[8] On October 3, following their initial distribution deal months prior, TV-Loonland announced they had purchased Sony Wonder's television business assets. The deal included full ownership in animation studio Sunbow Entertainment, alongside a programming library that included shows based on Hasbro properties.[9][10] In exchange for the purchase, Sony Wonder retained North American home video rights to their catalogue and worldwide music rights. In December, the company purchased a 65% stake in South Korean home video distributor Saerom Entertainment.[11]

In April 2001, the company signed a licensing deal with Nox Music where they would represent Loonland's catalogue in all CSS/Russian territories.[12] On May 15, the company shuttered Family Harbour.[1] In November, Loonland purchased a 29.9% stake in UK distributor Metrodome Distribution.[13]

In January 2002, Loonland signed a first-look deal with AMG Animation & Family Entertainment, their first deal with a management firm.[14] The company expanded to Japan in March by pre-selling home video rights to Little Ghosts to TDK Core while PT-Naina took all non-Japanese Asian rights.[15] In August, Loonland's stake in Metrodome increased to a 54.4% operational controlling stake, with Loonland fully taking control of the distributor.[16]

In January 2003, the Metrodome stake was increased to 75%.[17] In March 2003, they sold their 72.2% interest stake in SRE Corp. (Saerom Entertainment) to Moohandae Media.[18]

In 2004, Loonland filed for a British ATM listing.[19]

In August 2005, Loonland was sued by shareholder group Aktieninvestor.com, after the company deliberately excused them from its AGM in August 2005, following violation of Section 21 of the Securities Trading Act when the latter tried to apply a hostile takeover within Loonland. The lawsuit ended in favour of TV-Loonland.[20] On September 27, 2005, the company launched a feature-film division called Loonland Pictures, and signed deals with the local branch of 20th Century Fox and NFP Marketing as marketing and distribution partners for the companies' movies, the first of which being Heidi, which would be released theatrically in the country at the end of the year.[21]

In October 2007, TV-Loonland announced they would sell off their then-61.2% stake in Metrodome Distribution.[22]

In May 2008, Romanian company MediaPro purchased 50.1% of Loonland's shares in Metrodome for £3.2 Million, leaving them with 11.6% which MediaPro could purchase out in the future.[23] On May 14, Hasbro acquired the Sunbow programs based on its properties, which are now part of the Hasbro Entertainment library.[24][25][26][27] On May 23, fellow German management company Your Family Entertainment invested a 3% stake in the company.[28]

In March 2009, Loonland signed a new home video deal with Hasbro for Transformers and G.I. Joe, bringing those shows back under the Loonland umbrella. They also acquired distribution rights to My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Adventure.[29] In December, TV-Loonland announced they would file for bankruptcy protection.[30] On April 5, 2011, most of Loonland's catalogue and remaining assets were sold to a fellow German entertainment company called m4e AG.[31]

In February 2017, Studio 100 acquired a majority stake in m4e AG.[32] Currently, Studio 100 owns the rights to most of the Loonland catalogue.

Programmes

Original

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

Distribution only

Specials

Original

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

Movies/Direct-to-Video

Original

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

References

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