DIC Seals Digital Distribution Deal with Vivendi

If you’ve missed Inspector Gadget’s gadgets, you’ll be able to see them both on the Web or on a podcast very soon.

“Inspector Gadget,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” Super Mario Bros” and “The Littles” are among the popular animated series DIC Entertainment will distribute online through a deal with Vivendi Entertainment. Vivendi will digitize the ‘toons, expand DIC’s audience on digital devices and effectively extend DIC’s brand.

Vivendi has already inked distribution deals with NetFlix, iTunes and Amazon.com as outlets for the DIC animation library. Vivendi will also seek deals with mobile carriers.

“We’ll be able to reach a much bigger audience,” said Frederic Soulie, DIC vice president of interactive and new media. “The good thing is that we’re early in the process. There’s not much content on iTunes for kids.”

There will be now, with approximately 3,000 half-hours of cartoons in DIC’s animation library included in the Vivendi deal.

Soulie foresees a broad audience for its classic cartoons among kids, ‘tweens, teens and adults who fondly recall Inspector Gadget and the other DIC characters.

“We’ve been producing cartoons for the past twenty-five years, so we have audiences all over the place,” he said.

It would have been a costly process for DIC to put its content on DVD, according to Soulie.

He said Vivendi’s ready digital pipeline will push DIC’s content to all digital platforms.

DIC is still very active in traditional media. It currently maintains a three-hour block of programming on CBS on Saturday mornings.

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