HIT Entertainment

Template:Companies infobox
**HiT Entertainment Limited** (doing business as **Mattel Television**) is an British-American entertainment company owned by Mattel and originally established in 1982 as **Henson International Television**. HiT owned globally successful brands including Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Bob the Builder, Pingu, Barney & Friends, Angelina Ballerina, and many more.

In July 2002, HiT acquired Gullane Entertainment (formally The Britt Allcroft Company) for approx £144-million. The purchase gave HiT full ownership rights to popular brands like Thomas the Tank Engine and Captain Pugwash.

## History

### 1982–1990: Beginning and early years

Peter Orton had met Jim Henson when he was at the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) handling distribution of *Sesame Street*. As a result, he became close friends with Henson and went to work with him in 1981. Together, they set up Henson International Television, which was the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions the following year, with Orton becaming the company's CEO.

Jim Henson Productions started negotiations with The Walt Disney Company regarding a possible purchase of the company in the late 1980s. Because of these negotiations, the company head, Peter Orton and other employees at Henson International Television convinced Jim Henson to allow them to spin off the distribution arm as an independent distribution company. Henson agreed, and Orton led a management buyout of the Henson International Television division from Henson in 1989, forming a new company named HiT Communications PLC.

### 1990–1999 : Becoming independent

HiT continued distributing programming by initially signing popular British series *Postman Pat* and the long-running *Alvin and the Chipmunks* series. The company then financed and distributed animated feature films based on the *Wind in the Willows* and *Peter Rabbit* books. Helping to fund the company was an investment by British satellite and cable TV operator Flextech took a 23% share in HiT for about £600,000. The HiT Wildlife division was set up to produce nature and wildlife programming which provided the company with 35% of its revenue by the mid-1990s.

HiT also handled international distributions for *Raa Raa the noisy lion*, produced by Allen, Texas-based Lyrick Studios (historically and originally known as *The Lyons Partnership, L.P.*). With the success of Barney, HiT began to develop its own programming. In 1996, HiT was listed on the AIM to raise funding; it used the funding to launch HiT Video that produced direct-to-video programming in the UK.

A new character came to the company's attention in 1996, when advertising executive and would-be cartoonist Keith Chapman pitched his idea to HiT Entertainment. Chapman's character was a little builder named Bob the Builder. While a number of other producers had turned down the idea, HIT recognized its potential and bought the rights to developing the Bob the Builder character into a television series.Cite error: Closing `</ref>` missing for `<ref>` tag which would in turn give HiT a marketing and distribution network that it used to introduce its properties to US audiences. Vice versa, the deal would help expand Barney's international presence, which was what Lyrick needed at the time. Chief Executive of HIT, Rob Lawes, was the driving force of the acquisition. The Lyrick acquisition encouraged HiT Entertainment to pursue new acquisitions

In May 2001, the first Bob the Builder production was released in the United States, while the company signed a deal with Sears to have "Bob Shops" in their retail stores. The Henson Company's owner EM.TV was in financial trouble over its purchase of 50% share in Formula One racing rights, and HiT joined a number of companies willing to purchase Henson. In October 2001, HiT's bid for Pingu BV was accepted.

In April 2002, HIT Entertainment sold their wildlife division to the newly formed Parthenon Entertainment, which was owned by the former managing director of Hit Wildlife, Carlos "Carl" Hall, with its 30 hours of programming in production and its 300-hour library was transferred in the management buyout agreement.

The board of Gullane Entertainment agreed that their company be purchased by HiT for £139million. The television shows owned by Gullane included Thomas & Friends, The Magic Adventures of Mumfie, and Fireman Sam (whose rights were bought from Bumper Films months before). On 22 August 2002, HIT Entertainment officially opened its Canadian office in Toronto.

In March 2003, CCI Entertainment re-acquired its stake from HiT which was part of the purchase of Gullane and its library rights in Canada. HiT's next TV-show Rubbadubbers aired in September that year. CCI would in a decade's time be acquired and folded into 9 Story Media Group.

On 1 April 2004, HiT and The Jim Henson Company agreed to a five-year global distribution and production deal which included distribution of 440 hours of JHC's remaining library, including *Fraggle Rock*, *Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas*, *The Hoobs* and *Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories*. In addition, the agreement also included the production of new properties, including *Frances*, in which both companies co-produced. Both companies co-owned the copyright to the series. While firing its chief executive Rob Lawes in October 2004, the company announced its launching of a 24-hour pre-school channel known as*PBS Kids Sprout (now* Universal Kids*) with PBS, Comcast and Sesame Workshop.*

### 2005–2011: Apax Partners ownership

On 22 March 2005, Apax Partners purchased HiT for £489.4 million, taking it private, with former BBC director general Greg Dyke becoming chairman. On 26 August 2005, HiT announced an agreement with NBCUniversal, PBS and Sesame Workshop to launch the world's first 24-hour pre-school TV channel entitled *PBS Kids Sprout* (now *Universal Kids*), with HIT supplying programming for the channel as a result at the time.

In 2006, HiT closed its DVD sales and distribution arm in the US and contracted with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for DVD distribution. Soon, the distribution deal ended and was transferred to Lionsgate Home Entertainment who distributed HiT's videos from May 2008 to 2014.

In September 2007, the company and Chellomedia formed a joint venture to run the JimJam children's channel. HiT Entertainment opened its own toy company; the *HiT Toy Company'*.

In 2008, HiT hired former Nickelodeon executive, Jeffrey D. Dunn, as chief executive and moved DVD distribution from 20th Century Fox to Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Dunn drove the company to create new characters, including Mike the Knight, and to revitalize existing brands. In February, HiT sold the *Guinness World Records* brand, acquired through HiT's acquisition of Gullane Entertainment, to Ripley Entertainment. They also sold the rights to the Sooty characters and properties to his current presenter, Richard Cadell. HiT had put the rights to Sooty up for sale in October 2007.

In March 2009, HiT Entertainment started its *HiT Movies* division in Los Angeles, with Julia Pistor as division head, to create films based on the company's franchises. The division's first planned film adaptation was a live-action *Thomas & Friends* film, scheduled for late 2010.

In early 2010, HiT licensed Thomas & Friends to Mattel for toys. By August, the company withdrew from the *JimJam* joint venture, but agreed to continue providing programming for the channel until the absorption into Mattel.

In April 2011, Apax put HiT up for sale, with the option to sell the company in two parts: Thomas & Friends franchise and the other HiT characters with its Kids Sprout stake, with either parts or separately. Several bidders came forward, including The Walt Disney Company, Viacom (now known as Paramount Global), Mattel, Hasbro, Classic Media (now known as DreamWorks Classics), Chorion and Saban Brands. By April 2011, Fireman Sam was a Top 10 UK best-selling character toy according to NPD Group. Their next programme *Mike the Knight*, a co-production between Nelvana aired on Treehouse TV and CBeebies later in the year.

### Mattel subsidiary

Main article: Mattel Television
Apax Partners agreed to sell HiT Entertainment to Mattel, Inc. on 24 October 2011 for $680 million excluding its share of the PBS Kids Sprout TV channel. The sale/merger was completed on 1 February 2012, and HIT Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel, which was managed under its Fisher-Price unit. Due to the success of the *Thomas & Friends* brand, which accounted for 80% of HIT's revenues, there was talks of Mattel only wanting to purchase that franchise rather than the entire HIT library. Mattel had already worked alongside Hit Entertainment and handled marketing for Thomas & Friends toys. On 3 July 2012, it was reported that Mattel considered selling and sought a buyer for *Barney* and *Angelina Ballerina*, but they eventually kept them.

HiT announced a DVD distribution deal with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on 2 May 2014. in which Universal began distributing their catalogue for Blu-ray & DVD Electronic Sell-Through and VOD platforms in the United States and Canada. In early summer 2015, the Edaville amusement park opened a licensed Thomas Land theme area based on *Thomas & Friends*. On 6 October 2015, HiT Entertainment announced a long-term partnership with 9 Story Media Group to relaunch *Barney & Friends* and *Angelina Ballerina*.

1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/dec/12/guardianobituaries.television
2. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-orton-media-entrepreneur-who-made-a-global-success-of-bob-the-builder-764554.html
3. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hit-entertainment-plc-history/
4. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hit-entertainment-plc-history/
5. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-aug-09-et-castro9-story.html
6. ↑ https://www.investegate.co.uk/hit-entertainment--hte-/rns/acquisition/200102090704016372Y/
7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `FU`
8. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1626014.stm
9. ↑ http://www.c21media.net/ex-hit-wildlife-man-firms-up-parthenon/
10. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/jul/06/citynews.media?INTCMP=SRCH%7Caccess-date=9 April 2013|website=The Guardian|date=6 July 2002}}
11. ↑ http://www.awn.com/news/business/hit-entertainment-canada-opens-its-doors
12. ↑ http://www.c21media.net/archives/12907
13. ↑ https://www.henson.com/press-releases/2004/2004-04-01.pdf
14. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/oct/21/broadcasting.citynews?INTCMP=SRCH
15. ↑ https://www.awn.com/news/apax-buy-hit-entertainment-934-million
16. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/apr/13/thomas-the-tank-engine-hit-entertainment
17. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/apr/18/hit-entertainment-thomas-the-tank-engine
18. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/business/worldbusiness/apax-to-buy-hit-entertainment.html
19. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/apr/18/hit-entertainment-thomas-the-tank-engine
20. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/apr/18/hit-entertainment-thomas-the-tank-engine
21. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/lionsgate-joins-hit-parade-107790/
22. ↑ Chala, Jean K. (28 February 2009). Transnational Television in Europe: Reconfiguring Global Communications Networks. I.B.Tauris. pp. 123–124. ISBN 9780857717474 – via Google Books.
23. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/apr/18/hit-entertainment-thomas-the-tank-engine
24. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/feb/15/useconomy.economics?INTCMP=SRCH
25. ↑ http://www.licensing.biz/big-interviews/read/richard-cadell-on-saving-sooty-brand-longevity-and-stage-shows/039309%7Cwork=Licensing.biz
26. ↑ http://kidscreen.com/2009/03/04/hitmovies-20090304/
27. ↑ https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/hit-entertainment-gets-into-movie-biz-1118000782/
28. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204644504576650730957530252
29. ↑ http://www.digitaltveurope.net/2596/hit-pulls-out-of-jimjam-jv/
30. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `gnm`
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `gnm0`
32. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20111225003245/http://www.hitentertainment.com/corporate/newsdetail.aspx?nid=87
33. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/24/mattel-buys-hit-entertainment
34. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204644504576650730957530252
35. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15430842
36. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mattel-acquisition-thomas-friends-maker-HIT-entertainment-earnings-286056
37. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160806172327/http://www.licensemag.com/license-global/hit-lays-tracks-thomas-land
38. ↑ https://mattel.gcs-web.com/static-files/c4b3014d-2833-4b7f-a625-287a619ea72a
39. ↑ https://deadline.com/2011/10/mattel-buys-a-680m-ticket-for-thomas-186064/
40. ↑ https://www.marketingweek.com/mattel-acquires-thomas-friends-owner/
41. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120703083511/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9371099/Mattel-sounds-out-buyers-for-Hit-Entertainments-Barney-and-Angelina-Ballerina.html/
42. ↑ http://www.animationmagazine.net/licensing/hit-taps-universal-for-home-entertainment-distribution/
43. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `lgm`
44. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mipcom-barney-friends-set-relaunch-829728
45. ↑ https://9story.com/mattel-inc-together-9-story-announce-new-partnership-relaunch-iconic-pre-school-brands-barney-friends-angelina-ballerina/