"Huntik" Signs to Jetix and CITV

Big Bocca Productions has signed TV broadcast deals with Jetix and CITV in the U.K. for Rainbow'S new animated action-adventure property, "Huntik: Secrets & Seekers."

The series, created by Winx Club author Iginio Straffi, is a partnership between Big Bocca Productions, Rainbow and m4e.

Jetix U.K. has an exclusive window, launching the show this month and featuring the "Huntik" trailer on a covermount on Jetix Magazine's March edition (out on Feb. 12). A trading card game is also being released by Upper Deck U.K. to complement the broadcast debut.

The CITV launch follows in the summer.

"Having two major broadcasters involved in our property will help us tremendously in building its profile in such a crucial European territory and help us install the show as a key boy's action brand," says Marie-Laure Marchand, managing director of Big Bocca Productions.

Other TV deals include Jetix in Benelux, Televisa (through Televix distribution partner in Latin America), ABS-CBN in the Philippines, Mediacorp in Singapore; NTV7 in Malaysia, KTV in South Africa, Noga in Israel, Antena 3 Neox and Canal Panda in Spain, MTV3 Finland, Kanal D Turkey, Alter in Greece, Kabar TV in Kazakhstan, TV3 in the Baltic States, RTL2 in Germany and MTV3 in Finland. The series is already airing in the U.S. and on Rai 2 in Italy.

Big Bocca Productions manages all marketing, promotional and licensing initiatives for "Huntik: Secrets & Seekers" in North America, Latin America, Canada, the U.K., Japan, China, Korea, Israel, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania.

Rainbow is managing the Huntik property in Europe (excluding GAS), South East Asia (excluding South Korea, China, Japan) and India. M4E is handling German-speaking territories.

"Huntik: Secrets & Seekers" was joint winner of last October's Licensing Challenge run by License! Global and Reed Midem at Mipcom Junior.