Salsa's move leads to Lat-Am toon sales

Distributor Salsa Entertainment's recent switch to its new Miami headquarters has paid off with a raft of deals with leading broadcasters across Latin America.

Salsa was previously based in Paris and was bought by children's producer-distributor TV-Loonland 18 months ago. The new acquisition deals span five broadcasters and eight series, as well as a range of feature films and specials.

Telemundo of Puerto Rico has bought 40 half-hours of the preschool series Salty's Lighthouse, produced by Sunbow Entertainment. It has also bought a package of 30', 60' and 90' Christmas specials of the series, which mixes cel animation, live-action and original music.

Televicentro in Nicaragua has bought four animated series from the Salsa catalogue: 26 half-hours of The Cramp Twins from TV-Loonland, Sunbow and Cartoon Network UK; 65 half-hours of Angela Anaconda from Decode Entertainment; 260 x10-minutes of Jim Henson Productions' Mopatop's Shop: and 78×5-minutes of 3D cgi series Jellabies, from Winchester Entertainment-owned Optical Image.

In Honduras, Salsa has sold Sunbow's Generation O! (13×30') and Scholastic Entertainment's Emmy-nominated Clifford (40×30') to Compania Televisora.

Bolivia's Bolivision has bought series two and three of Farscape, produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with Hallmark Entertainment Productions. The deal covers some 44 hours of programming.

Salsa has also secured a deal with RCTV in Venezuela to include 11 feature films and a run of Christmas specials.

Salsa Entertainment's {extremely pleased{ evp Jerry Diaz said: {We have strategically placed the programmes on behalf of our clients with reputable, longstanding broadcasters throughout Latin America.{