KidsCo expands Indonesian presence with AORA pay-TV

KidsCo has recently signed a deal with Indonesian direct broadcast satellite pay television platform, AORA, in Indonesia. KidsCo's programming will be available from 1st August 2010 and will provide engaging and educational content as part of AORA's pay-TV service.

KidsCo will air shows including 'The Wiggles', 'Nalong Fly to the Sky', 'Inspector Gadget', 'Babar', 'Franklin and Spheres', as well as original content such as Boo Me, Boo's Sanctuary and Jass Time! to children across Indonesia in both English and Indo Bahasa.

Paul Robinson, Managing Director at KidsCo, commented, We have developed a strong presence in Indonesia and are already airing on platforms including M2V, Oke Vision and most recently Indovision. The partnership with AORA       
is a significant step for us in cementing our position as a leading kids TV channel within Indonesia and across South East Asia.

Gaby Motuloh, Assistant President Director at AORA, said: Since our launch in 2008, we haveoffered quality programming to ensure our viewers are entertained. KidsCo provides culturally relevant family entertainment, therefore, we are delighted to have introduced the channel to our viewers in Indonesia.

Talking to Animation Xpress Asia Pacific about KidsCo's Asia expansion, Paul shared, Last year we had great success across Asia in terms of both territories and content acquisition. We licensed Asian animation from Iconix in Korea, for example, which fared particularly well for us. All licensed programmes were pre-school appropriate, namely: Nalong, fly to the sky and Spheres which is for boys and girls aged six to 10.

We've produced two original short-form series to date that are aired across most of our feeds and both are Asia produced. The first is a classic crafts show, Jass Time!, an original production, which launched in April 2009. Then in October we launched a short-form animated series that we co-produced with a company in Malaysia, [Inspidea], called Boo & Me. Every episode has an environmental message, underpinned by themes of friendship and learning through fun.

In February we commissioned further original productions in the form of idents. The first in the series celebrated Chinese New Year developed in collaboration with Image Venture. The ident brought our logo to life, which was a great process to watch. Following the success of Chinese New Year, we developed a second ident to celebrate Easter and our most recent ident was in celebration of the World Cup.. The idea was to reflect KidsCo's role as the world's local kids entertainment hub, the creative theme of the animations re-enforce the channel's awareness of environmental issues, different cultures and geographies.

This year our focus is to grow in markets where we do not currently have a presence whilst we deepen the penetration in the territories that we do. There are a few territories in Asia, such as Malaysia, Japan and New Zealand, for example, that we hoping to launch in over this next 12 month.