EM.TV sells shows to pair of Swiss channels

SF second to cast junior window

BERLIN -- The Swiss TV market is heating up for German players with Teutonic kidvid outfit EM.TV & Merchandising forming a strategic partnership with two Swiss channels within days of the launch of Switzerland's first private web, TV3.

EM.TV has licensed more than 1,200 half-hours of programming from its Junior catalog to the Swiss pubcaster SF DRS for a period of three years. The rights are for free TV and for the German-speaking region of Switzerland where the channel broadcasts.

SF is the second channel after German web SAT.1 to broadcast a Junior window, which EM.TV is trying to establish worldwide.

"We are proud to have established our first Junior TV deal outside of Germany with the Swiss TV station," said Thomas Haffa, managing director of EM.TV.

In a separate deal, EM sold to TV3, which launched Monday, more than 400 half-hours of programming, including classics such as "Dick and Doof" and "Pippi Longstocking."

Both stations have acquired rights to "The Simpsons." This follows public outrage in Switzerland when broadcasts of "The Simpsons" on ProSieben were replaced with a programming window airing Swiss shows introduced to attract local advertisers.