NBCUniversal partnership for DreamWorks Animation TV content brings new stories of iconic characters to Sky

Sunday 18 October 2020

Sky and NBCUniversal Global Distribution announce a long-term partnership to bring Sky customers hundreds of hours of high-quality, animated series featuring well-known heroes from DreamWorks Animation. The deal bolsters Sky’s offering of stories for the whole family, ready to watch when and wherever they want, all in one place.

The deal includes access to new spin off series from hit film franchises such as How to Train Your Dragon, Trolls and Madagascar.

Sky and NOW TV customers in the UK and Ireland will enjoy exclusive access to the premieres of Madagascar: A Little Wild, TrollsTopia and Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky. Customers can also look forward to the return of a number of hilarious and bold characters in All Hail King Julien, Home Adventures with Tip & Oh and Dawn of the Croods.*

These new stories featuring iconic characters from DreamWorks will be available weekends on Sky One at no extra cost, on demand via the Sky Kids Pack and through the Sky Kids App, and on NOW TV Kids Pass from late October.

Stephen van Rooyen, EVP & CEO UK & Europe Sky said: “Our new partnership with NBCUniversal brings an impressive range of family favourites from DreamWorks Animation to Sky and NOW TV customers. Adding DreamWorks’ loveable stories of dreams, journeys and heroes alongside our originals and our partner content means customers can access the content they love, all in one place - easy.”

“Families are spending more time at home than ever before - as kids and adults alike love Dreamworks characters, hopefully this will help them enjoy more moments together.”

Belinda Menendez, President & CRO, Global Distribution and International, NBCUniversal said: “We are delighted to expand upon our long-standing relationship with Sky and NOW TV through this new deal that brings a vibrant, compelling slate of animated TV series to bolster the Sky Kids platforms. DreamWorks Animation has an outstanding pedigree in the realm of kids content and we look forward to partnering with Sky to bring these beloved characters and stories to homes across the UK and Ireland for families to enjoy.”

Sky already has over 5,000 episodes of on demand content from partners Viacom and Turner, and a host of impressive Sky Kids Originals such as Moominvalley and Morph. Kids can watch favourites like Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, SpongeBob Squarepants, the Amazing World of Gumball, wonderful LEGO content and now exclusive shows featuring Dreamworks’ unconventional heroes, all in one place. All this is complemented by sitting alongside the apps - like Disney+ and Netflix – on Sky Q.

Notes to editors:

*Full list of shows coming to Sky and NOW TV (*marks exclusive/first look shows)

Madagascar: A Little Wild*

Lovable foursome Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo steal the show in Madagascar: A Little Wild. Capturing the iconic personalities of each of the four dynamos, Madagascar: A Little Wild showcases the team as kids residing in their rescue habitat at the Central Park Zoo. They might be small, but like everybody who lands in New York City, these little guys have big dreams and Madagascar: A Little Wild will follow all of their adventures.

The Mighty Ones*

The Mighty Ones follows the hilarious adventures of the smallest of them: a twig, a pebble, a leaf and a strawberry who call themselves “the Mighty Ones.” These best friends live in an unkempt backyard belonging to a trio of equally unkempt humans who they mistake for gods. Despite their diminutive stature, The Mighty Ones are determined to live large and have fun in their wild world.

TrollsTopia*

Inspired by the beloved DreamWorks Animation films, TrollsTopia is the next chapter in the hair-raising adventures of the trolls. Now that Poppy knows there are other musical trolls scattered throughout the forest, she bottles up her endless positivity and invites delegates from every troll tribe in the forest to live together in harmony in a grand experiment she calls TrollsTopia!

Cleopatra In Space*

Cleopatra in Space is the untold story of Cleopatra's teenage years when she is transported to a future galaxy that is ruled by talking cats and discovers that she is the prophesied saviour. In order to prepare her to be the saviour, she is sent to an elite academy where she has to train to take on the bad guys, figure out how to eventually get herself back home to Egypt, and tackle the highs

Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky*

In a faraway corner of the vast and exciting Viking world, live ten-year-old Dak and his twin sister Leyla and five young dragons: Winger, Summer, Cutter, Burple and Aggro. Raised among these dragons friends, Dak and Leyla also developed the unique ability to undersand and speak with dragons. Together, the twins and their dragons go on exciting adventures, rescuing, defending and protecting other dragons while also helping out their adopted home of Huttsgalor!

All Hail King Julien (Series 1, 2 and 3)

King Julien is here to party, and no one can stop him from ruling with an iron fist...in the air, wavin' like he just doesn't care! All Hail King Julien brings the wild world of Madagascar to a totally original, totally hilarious and totally insane television series in which the king takes on the craziest adventures the jungle has to offer. A new cast of fantastic, colorful characters joins King Julien himself, along with his second-in-command Maurice, and the eternally devoted Mort. It's a riot of color -- not to mention a laugh riot -- when viewers "All Hail King Julien!"

Dawn of the Croods (Series 1 and 2)

The world's first family is back and funnier than ever in this all-new family sitcom! Eep, Grug, Thunk, Ugga, Sandy and Gran are taking the prehistoric Croodacious era by storm as they deal with modern-day problems for the first time ever in history. School, slumber parties and elections are some of the hilarious wonders of the modern life The Croods are discovering!

Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh (Series 1 and 2)

What happens after a misfit alien named Oh conquers Earth, befriends an adventurous teen girl named Tip and together they save the day? Oh moves in with Tip and her human family and finally discovers the true meaning of home. The galaxy's dynamic duo are back in DreamWorks Animation's Home: Adventures With Tip & Oh, a series jam-packed with outrageous laughs, tons of heart and contemporary urban pop music performed by teen singing sensation Rachel Crow (Rio 2, X Factor). Life on earth will never be the same!

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About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place, easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes the arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice.

About NBCUniversal Global Distribution

NBCUniversal Global Distribution is responsible for the licensing and distribution of NBCUniversal product to all forms of television and new media platforms in the U.S., Canada and in over 200 territories internationally. NBCUniversal’s content portfolio includes a vast and diverse library of more than 4,500 feature films and 120,000 television episodes, including current and classic titles, non-scripted programming, kids, sports, news, long-form and short-form programming from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Television, UCP, NBCUniversal International Studios, Sky Studios, NBC Late Night properties, DreamWorks Animation, Telemundo, and more, as well as locally produced content from around the world. Global Distribution is a division of Comcast NBCUniversal.

About DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation is one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality, animated family programming, reaching consumers in more than 190 countries. Creating a diverse array of original content in a variety of formats and delivering deep, fully immersive worlds served up with compelling characters, the prolific studio has garnered 25 Emmy® Awards since inception in 2013 and is home to such beloved series as Spirit Riding Free, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Archibald’s Next Big Thing, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Dragons: Race to the Edge, All Hail King Julien, and the recently released Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. DreamWorks is a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group within NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation