Cologne, Germany  – For children in German-speaking countries, it’s a firmly established part of their daily bedtime routine: Litte Sandman has been enchanting young TV viewers with bedtime stories since 1959. Ahead of MIPTV 2017, WDR mediagroup (WDRmg) has taken over the international distribution of the cult programme as well as four additional children’s formats that deal with dreaming and going to sleep. The sales mandate transferred to WDRmg from Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) and its subsidiary rbb media covers global rights for TV broadcasting, DVD publication and video on demand exploitation outside the German-speaking territories.

Besides 24 current episodes of Little Sandman, the Cologne-based company will be offering 39 episodes of the series Kalli and Jan & Henry at the international trade show for TV content, as well as 26 episodes of Timmi the Rocketeer and Lennart in Grumble Valley. All of the recent additions bring new colours to the existing catalogue of high-quality children’s programming that for the most part comes from the public service broadcasting domain.

Klaus Wilhelm Baumeister, CEO of rbb media, “We’re looking forward to collaborating with a strong partner like WDRmg, who has an excellent reputation in international distribution.” Andrea Zuska, Chief Content Officer at WDRmg, “Our co-operation with rbb media enables us to bundle additional titles from the ARD family portfolio and make them known beyond the borders of Germany. Plus there is a strategic aspect to our taking over the international programme sales of ‘Jan & Henry’ – we’re acting as licensing and merchandising agency for this title too, which enables us to implement an integrated brand management at the international level.”