Viselman 'resigns' from Itsy Bitsy

Interesting times have engulfed stateside kids' TV distributor The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company, culminating in its ceo and founder claiming to have been locked out of the company's New York office.

Ken Viselman, who set up the global children's media outfit from his second bedroom back in 1995, says he came in to work as usual three weeks ago only to learn that he had resigned.

Viselman maintains he didn't resign, but nonetheless Itsy Bitsy's majority owner, video and music outfit Handleman, says that he has. Viselman also claims that they changed the office locks and, as of last week, he has not received his usual salary.

{They've been minimising and marginalising my position for a while now, and omitting me from important decisions,{ Viselman told C21. {There's no way I'd resign – Itsy Bitsy is my family.{

However, Handelman's cfo Greg Mize says that Viselman did in fact resign: {Ken is no longer with the Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company. The nature of his resignation is something you'll have to ask him about – we have now moved on. That's all we can say at this point.{

Mize did, however, enlarge on the context of the curious events: {We have been conducting a thorough assessment of Itsy Bitsy's direction. An assessment of the company's management structure is part of that process.{

Handelman's decision to usher in a period of cost-cutting at Itsy Bitsy may have clashed with Viselman's long-held strategy of what he called {PUF{ – promotion up-front – with regard to the company's recent acquisitions like Eloise, Wannabe and Leonard the Monkey.

{Being successful in kids' television is like throwing a party,{ said the colourful TV veteran. {You have to invest a lot of money up-front and hope people come along. If you try and cut corners on balloons and cheap invitations then nobody will come. You can't do it half-arsed.{

In Handelman's recent annual report for the year ending April 28, 2001, the company posted higher than forecasted losses at Itsy Bitsy (aka TibECo).

The report said: {During fiscal 2001, TibECo made an effort to become a full-line children's entertainment company. In addition to licensing revenues from children's properties…, TibECo continued its efforts to capitalise on its rights for the children's classic, Eloise, and expand its toy division, Hooray! Recently, the company has made a decision to refocus on its core businesses and has implemented several cost containment measures to lower operating costs.{

The company, which was built on introducing kids' show like Ragdoll's Teletubbies and Tots TV into the US market, is 75% owned by Handelman, with Viselman being the largest private shareholder.