Burbank-based DIC Entertainment has struck a deal with two foreign media companies to launch a new children’s television channel. KidsCo is a joint venture between DIC, London-based Sparrowhawk Media and Nelvana Enterprises, part of the Canadian company Corus Entertainment Inc. The channel will feature animated and live-action television series as well as films and rely on DIC’s programming library of more than 3,000 hours of Inspector Gadget, Strawberry Shortcake, Madeline, Dennis the Menace and Care Bears and Nelvana’s Babar, Franklin, The Adventures of Tintin and Rolie Polie Olie. “This alliance draws on the collective expertise of the best in the business and the libraries of our content partners contains some of the world’s most popular children’s programs,” said Sparrowhawk Media CEO David Hulbert, in a statement released Tuesday. Sparrowhawk owns and broadcasts the international versions of the Hallmark Channel, based in Studio City.
