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New York, October 1, 2013 – The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced today that WDR mediagroup GmbH, a subsidiary of German broadcaster WDR, has signed on as a Presenting Partner for the International Emmy® Kids Awards, the stand-alone ceremony solely dedicated to recognizing excellence in children’s television programming produced and initially aired outside of the United States.
Over 300 international industry executives attended the inaugural ceremony which took place February 8th, 2013. The 2nd edition of the International Emmy® Kids Awards is scheduled for February 10, 2014 at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers, in New York City.
“With its dedication to high quality children’s television programming, The International Emmy Kids Awards are a premium brand, which we are happy to support for the years to come. We are looking forward to introduce international partners to our star and its show, which has been a success story on and off air in Germany for what are now several generations of fans.” said WDR mediagroup CEO, Michael Loeb.
“Michael Loeb has been an active member of our organization and we are delighted that WDR mediagroup has chosen this premiere global platform to promote its kids line-up and notably WDR’s flagship educational show “The Show with the Mouse”, which has been on the air for over 40 years.” said Academy President & CEO Bruce L. Paisner.
The six kids Emmy® categories presented at this event are: Kids: Preschool; Kids: Animation; Kids: Factual; Kids: Non-Scripted Entertainment; Kids: Series, and Kids: TV Movie/Mini-Series. Entries into the kids competition run concurrent with The International Emmy® Awards competition which opens in December and closes in February. Rules and regulations can be found on the Academy’s website at www.iemmys.tv/awards_entry.aspx.
WDR mediagroup joins International Emmy® Kids Awards Presenting Partners: Shaw Rocket Fund, Hasbro Studios, SVT/DRTV, TV Kids and Ernst & Young.
Based in Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), WDR mediagroup is the first German Presenting Partner for The International Emmy® Kids Awards. NRW’s media authorities are longstanding partners of the Academy with a strong annual presence at the Academy’s November events.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 50 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy’s yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards Ceremony and International Emmy® Kids Awards held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in the following twenty categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Current Affairs; Comedy; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction; Digital Program: Non-Fiction; Documentary; Drama Series; Kids: Preschool; Kids: Animation; Kids: Factual; Kids: Non-Scripted Entertainment; Kids: Series; Kids: TV Movie/Mini-Series News; Non-Scripted Entertainment; Telenovela; TV Movie/Mini-Series. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv
ABOUT WDR MEDIAGROUP
WDR mediagroup is the commercial subsidiary of the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR) in Cologne. As an innovative media service provider, it markets and commercializes the high quality WDR programs and supplies of other partners via all distribution channels and platforms. In addition to its core business, which is the marketing of advertising time, its versatile service portfolio covers the entire digital value-added chain: WDR mediagroup digitalizes and archives media contents, sets up an infrastructure for their further commercial exploitation and is finally responsible for marketing and sales.
With regard to licensing and merchandising, WDR mediagroup exclusively exploits the programs produced by WDR with a focus on popular children’s characters such as the Mouse, the Elephant and The Little Mole.
With its unique concept “The Show with the Mouse” has been a German TV classic since 1971, with a weekly programming on ARD, KIKA and WDR channels. WDR mediagroup has launched an extensive publishing and merchandising program around the show’s main characters in 1998 and now cooperates with more than 70 licensees worldwide. In 2005, the Mouse was launched in Japan with a tailor made programming for NHK and now Cartoon Networks Japan. Cooperations within the “Germany in Japan” year and continuing partnerships with partners such as Dokkyo University have made the Mouse an internationally renowned brand.
WDR mediagroup is looking forward to continue this success story in further markets, including international co-production partnerships for high quality children’s programming.
MEDIA CONTACTS
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Eva Obadia, Senior Director, Communications & Partnerships
Tel:+1-212-489-6969
eva.obadia@iemmys.tv
The Lippin Group
Don Ciaramella
Tel:+1-212-986-7080
don@lippingroup.com