TURNER BROADCASTING COMMISSIONS UK VERSION OF HIT PRESCHOOL SERIES HI-5

Turner Broadcasting today announced it has commissioned a local version of popular television series Hi-5.  Set to air on Turner’s preschool channel Cartoonito, Hi-5 will be produced by BAFTA award-winning production company Darrall Macqueen.

Forty half-hour episodes of the UK local version will be produced, with casting to commence next month.  Also partnering on the UK series is free-to-air broadcaster GMTV who will begin showing the series in 2009 following Cartoonito’s premier in 2008.

Cecilia Persson, Vice President of Programming, Acquisitions and Presentation, Turner Kids Channels said: “Hi-5 has enjoyed world renowned success and we’re delighted to commission a UK produced version.  Each week the series will focus on some of Hi-5’s most notable themes such as music, friends, animals, family and outdoors.  Underpinned with an ethos of exercise and dance, it also has positive messaging of encouraging kids to get active. We look forward to introducing this new British version of Hi-5 to Cartoonito’s line up, which will sit well with other UK commissions on Cartoonito which include Go and Be and Grown Up and Cartoonito Karaoke.”

Billy Macqueen, Darrall Macqueen Ltd: “This is an exciting opportunity that will see us scouring the United Kingdom to find our fabulous five presenters!  We also anticipate that a UK tour with the cast of Hi-5 will kick off in 2009, bringing the Hi-5 experience to audiences throughout the UK.”

Hi-5 has accomplished an enormous amount both in Australia and all around the world, with this commission the first step in the new global strategy for the Hi-5 brand following its recent acquisition by Nine Network Australia and Southern Star.

In Australia, the television series has won three Logies for Most Outstanding Children’s Series, a record breaking five consecutive ARIAS for Best Children’s Album, and the Helpmann award for Best Children’s Presentation of a live show. To date 435 half hour episodes have been produced, 25 DVD/videos, nearly 80 books and 11 CDs have been released.

Hi-5 is a global phenomenon. The television series now screens in 118 countries with a global audience reach in excess of five million people and enjoys considerable success in Asia, the UK, the USA and Latin America.

Over 2 million tickets have been sold worldwide to Hi-5 concerts and there are currently four new casts touring Latin America with licensing agents and DVD distributors set up in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.

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For further information please contact:

Yinka Akindele, Turner Broadcasting

Press Officer

Yinka.akindele@turner.com, 020 7693 1105

Shannon Becker, Southern Star International

Marketing Manager

sbecker@sstar.com.au, +61 2 9202 8555

Fax:        +61 2 9956 6918

CARTOONITO

Sky 619

Cartoonito is a preschool channel that began its life as a programme block on Cartoon Network Too in September 2006, extending to a full channel in May 2007.  A place where pre-school children can explore their world in a fun and imaginative way, Cartoonito airs a mix of established preschool programmes such as Barney, Hi-5, and Baby Looney Tunes, as well as popular new shows such as Pororo and Blanche.  Exclusive to the block is the make-believe world of the Cartoonitos, six animated characters who introduce the shows both in English and French. Cartoonito is the first and only kids channel in the UK to facilitate soft learning of a second language in the interstitials between programmes.  Cartoonito airs daily from 6am until 7pm, and includes day parted programming designed to reflect the lives of preschoolers and their parents. Cartoonito is operated by Turner Broadcasting System Europe, a Time Warner Company.

Southern Star

Southern Star is an integrated film and television production and distribution group.  Divisions of the Company are involved in film, television and video production; sales and distribution; and licensing and merchandising.  Southern Star is a division of Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Limited, a publicly listed Company on the Australian Stock Exchange.