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Entertainment Rights buys Filmation After failing to acquire kids IP outfit Chorion earlier this year, Entertainment Rights has now bought classic global animation library Filmation from Hallmark Entertainment. The $20m (£11m) deal increases ER’s library to over 1,700 hours, making Entertainment Rights "the number 2 independent children’s intellectual property owner in the UK", according to ER. It also continues ER's recent moves into boys action product. The Filmation library features over 500 hours of programming across more than 30 different titles including He-Man and Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, My Favourite Martian, The Lone Ranger, The Archies, Fat Albert, Sabrina and Bravestar. The acquisition "greatly enhances our content offering of wholly owned characters and brands and gives us a particular focus on the US market place," said Mike Heap, ER's ceo. "We have tracked this library for a number of years believing it to be one of the few remaining global libraries available and a unique opportunity for the Group to become a truly one-stop shop for children’s and family programming, characters and brands." The acquisition of the Filmation library gives ER ownership of these titles worldwide in perpetuity, across television, video and DVD, licensing and merchandising, computer games, recorded music, music publishing as well as certain feature-film and re-make rights. The news emerged as Entertainment Rights reported a loss before tax of £417k for 2003, down from £1.14m the year before. Turnover increased by 22% to £29.5m, compared with £24.1m in 2002. 25 Mar 2004 © C21 Media 2004
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