Lagardère Active’s television department will launch Russian versions of its kids channels Tiji and Gulli in time for Christmas.

The channels will both be broadcast on Russian satellite platform NTV as well as on cable networks. Benoît Runel, a former executive from Jetix Europe is conducting this project.

“Compared to the existing [children’s] offer made of Russian channel TV Nanny and US international brands, we want to bring our European touch but also explore the Russian side,” Lagardère Active’s Director of French and International TV activities Emmanuelle Guilbart told Rapid TV News.

The Russian version of pre-schoolers’ channel Tiji will keep its full-animation format and be dubbed in Russian while DTT family channel Gulli, co-owned by Lagardère and France Télévisions, will orient more towards a discovery format.

Lagardère’s strategy of international expansion answers to the group’s ambition to optimise coproductions as well as acquisition rights.

In its French version, Tiji is already distributed into some 20 countries, mostly in Northern Africa and Middle East.

Source: RapidTVnews