The toy giant has bought out HIT Entertainment, the company that owns the North American rights to the purple dinosaur, the steadfast tank engine, the animated builder and many other characters (most of which are seen on public TV in the U.S.)--HIT also co-owns the PBS Kids Sprout channel with PBS, Comcast and Sesame Workshop, which may raise some eyebrows among the child-protection-from-consumerism crowd:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mattel-acquire-thomas-friends-maker-252418 Mattel already makes Thomas toys in the U.S. and intends to expand their line over the coming years (Thomas is considered the number one pre-school brand in the world). We should point out that Mattel's major competitor Hasbro co-owns with Discovery and controls programming of the Hub cable channel. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
