CBeebies, Small Potatoes, Tinga Tinga Tales

BBC names kid's TV veteran Kay Benbow as the new Controller of CBeebies. Currently Head/CBeebies Production, Animation and Acquisitions, a role she has held since 2006, Benbow will make the move next year with BBC Children's to BBC North in Salford.

Benbow takes over the vacancy left by Michael Carrington who exited the position earlier this year to join Turner Broadcasting as Chief Content Officer, Cartoon Network EMEA. Benbow joined BBC Children's in 1988, after beginning her career with BBC World and Domestic Services, and she also managed, produced and directed various series.

She spent two years at Tell Tale Productions, where she was a producer on Tweenies, before returning to BBC Children's and has since developed and executive produced a range of programs.

Little Airplane Productions inks pre-sales for its short-form preschool animated series Small Potatoes (26x3) across Europe, Australia and Canada. The new broadcast deals for the music-centric series include CBeebies (UK), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), ABC TV (Australia) and TVO and Knowledge (Canada). CBeebies plans to premiere Small Potatoes in summer 2011. Designed to help preschoolers learn about different genres of music, Small Potatoes features works by composers and lyricists such as Jerry Bock (Fiddler on the Roof).

Classic Media signs further license agreement for its new preschool property Tinga Tinga Tales.

New deals across all categories include: William Lamb (footwear); Roy Lowe & Sons (socks and hosiery); VMC Accessories (dress up and accessories); Trademark Collections (bags, umbrellas, wallets); Zap (bedding and towels); Hall & Associates (health and beauty); MV Sport (bikes, trikes, scooters); Paul Lamond (board games and puzzles); Titan (stand alone magazine; BBC Worldwide (multi-character CBeebies Weekly and CBeebies Animals Magazine).

Previous deals include pan-regional deals with Penguin Group, as global master publishing, which will release its first titles in the UK this May 2010, and a Bandai, the master toy partner for the brand, which will roll-out toys based on the property from this September.