
The new HIT Entertainment logo, introduced in June 2006.
'HIT Entertainment PLC' was established in
1989, and was originally the international distribution arm of
Jim Henson Productions called 'Henson International Television'. However, following the death of
Jim Henson in
1990, the business was sold to several members of the company's management and renamed 'HIT Entertainment' to prevent any future confusion between the two companies.
HIT is privately held. Sunshine Acquisition, a company set up by
Apax Partners’ Funds, closed acquisition of HIT Entertainment on May 26, 2005 £489.4 million.
HIT's catalogue of characters include ''
Bob the Builder'', ''
Thomas the Tank Engine'', ''
Barney'', ''
Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!'', ''
Kipper'', ''
Angelina Ballerina'', ''
Rubbadubbers'', ''
Pingu'', ''
The Wiggles'' and ''
Wishbone''. HIT also owns redistribution rights to several other shows.
HIT purchased
Gullane Entertainment (the owners of ''
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' and ''
Magic Adventures of Mumfie'') in
2002, in the process becoming owner of the
Guinness Book of Records and Lyrick Studios (who were the US distributors of
The Wiggles and
Bob the Builder and the owners of
Barney & Friends and
Wishbone) in 2002.
Since the 2006 multimillion-dollar, multi-year agreement, exclusive home entertainment marketing, sales and distribution rights to HIT's children's programming are currently distributed in the
United States and
Canada by
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
HIT Entertainment is a fully integrated studio, that incorporates production, world-wide distribution,
UK home entertainment, publishing, licensing and merchandising and HIT Wildlife, the company's natural history arm.
HIT currently sells programming to over 120 countries. The chairman of HIT Entertainment is
Greg Dyke, the former Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the CEO is
Bruce Steinberg, formerly the CEO of what was once known as
Fox Kids Europe and is now known as
Jetix Europe.
When the new logo was launched in June of 2006, the spelling of HIT was spelled like
DiC in this: 'HiT Entertainment'.
List of shows

The HIT Entertainment television signature as it used to appear at the end of each of its television programs and on the website.
★ ''
Angelina Ballerina'' (airs on
PBS Kids,
PBS Kids Sprout and
Nick Jr. UK)
★ ''
Animal Stories'' (
Cartoonito In UK)
★ ''
Art Attack'' for
SMG Productions (airs on
CITV)
★ ''
Barney & Friends'' (airs on PBS Kids, Cartoonito and PBS Kids Sprout)
★ ''
Bob the Builder'' (airs on PBS Kids Sprout, CBeebies, and Nick Jr. UK)
★ ''
Fireman Sam'' (CBeebies UK, PBS Kids Sprout US)
★ ''
Kipper'' (syndication/PBS Kids Sprout, and Nick Jr. UK; originally on Nick Jr. and Noggin in the USA)
★ ''
Pingu'' (PBS Kids Sprout In USA, CBeebies in UK, and
Discovery Kids; originally on the
BBC)
★ ''
Rubbadubbers'' (airs on CBeebies)
★ ''
Sooty'' (CITV in the UK)
★ ''
Thomas the Tank Engine'' (PBS Kids Sprout, Nick Jr. Australia, Nick Jr. UK, and Playhouse Disney)
★ ''
The Wiggles'' (
ABC in Australia, Nick Jr. UK and
Playhouse Disney USA)
★ ''
Wishbone'' (airs on PBS Kids)
External links
★
HIT Entertainment
★
HIT Entertainment News