Intervisio, a Finnish cross-media production firm, has licensed its Emmy-awarded Staraoke TV show to Cartoon Network.  Staraoke is a combination of a karaoke-type interactive game and a talent TV-show for children. It will be a new primetime show for Cartoon Network.

Cartoon Network will produce altogether 78 episodes of the show, consisting of local series of 13 episodes for each the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland. The production is due to start now in March in London, where Cartoon Network will bring the participating children and their parents. The first show is supposed to air in the fall this year in the UK.

In Finland Staraoke starts its ninth season in fall 2009, and the program has been broadcasted also in Sweden and Hungary. The new deal is in essence the biggest single TV format licensing deal in Finland – there have not been too many of them. Intervisio and Cartoon Network  will also co-operate on licensing and merchandising the Staraoke brand with products like music CDs, karaoke DVDs, road shows, and mobile content. The firms are also negotiating with game publishers, and discussing an online game with the Staraoke developer, Finnish game firm Housemarque.

Press release (.doc)

Information by ArcticIndex

Intervisio - http://www.intervisio.fi/

Intervisio was founded in 2000 and it has been the leading finnish crossmedia production company ever since. Intervisio specializes in exploiting intellectual property rights through creating and producing...

Housemarque - http://www.housemarque.com/

Housemarque is an independent entertainment software company that develops original game titles using either original content or licensed IP's. Currently, the company is concentrating on creating unique...