HiT Entertainment Ltd. is a British-American entertainment company originally established in 1982 as Henson International Television. It was founded as the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions. HIT owns and distributes children's television shows such as Fireman Sam, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Pingu, Barney & Friends and Angelina Ballerina. In February 2012, the company was acquired by Mattel.
History[]
Henson International Television[]
HiT was originally formed as Henson International Television (hit!) in 1982 as a branch of the Jim Henson Company in order to coordinate the co-production of Fraggle Rock in London, England, United Kingdom. This subsidiary was later sold and retains none of the original Henson company architecture except for the name. It later rebranded itself as "HiT Entertainment".
HiT Entertainment[]
They acquired Gullane Entertainment on 5 July 2002, with the Fireman Sam franchise being one of it's acquisitions.[1]
On 1 February 2012, it was announced that Mattel purchased HiT Entertainment from Apax Partners, its previous owners, for $680 million (US). Other bidders included Viacom, Disney, Chorion, Hasbro, Saban Brands, and Tomy.
HiT announced a DVD distribution deal with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on 2 May 2014. In early summer 2015, Edaville USA amusement park opened a licensed Thomas Land theme area based on Thomas & Friends.
On March 31, 2016, HiT Entertainment was rebranded as Mattel Creations for business and distribution reasons.
- ↑ Gullane succumbs to HiT's advances on The Guardian