'Mad About Money' to Air Nationally in Syndication

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Theatre for Children (NTC) based in Minneapolis has partnered with Big Fish Entertainment, LLC for the syndication and distribution of a new educational and instructional (E/I) television series, Mad About Money.  Based on NTC's widely successful, in-school "live" tour of the same name, Mad About Money explores valuable life skills in personal finance for tweens, teens, and their families in a weekly, half-hour sketch-comedy/variety show.  Episodes use a creative mix of sketch comedy, music videos, animation, and kids-generated video to convey important messages around making, saving, spending and sharing money.  Think Saturday Night Live meets The Electric Company.

Debuting in September 6, 2010, this weekly, half-hour series is cleared on a number of major broadcast station groups including Tribune, Sinclair, Newport, Cox and Acme, and is on track for over 90% coverage of US households. The program is already scheduled to air in 40 of the top 50 markets including NY, LA, Chicago, Philly, Dallas and San Francisco.  "The response from the stations has been overwhelmingly positive.  Along with being able to fill a void left by the cancellation of several E/I series, the stations clearly recognize the importance of the message delivered by this program," says David Bulhack, President of BFE.  

In addition to 52 weeks of TV programming, NTC comedy troupes will perform over 2,000 live, sponsor-supported school performances of Mad About Money in the same markets where the TV series will air.  Each performance includes additional branded curriculum for students, teachers and the school.  "The local stations are anticipating great PR from being the 'Mad About' partner station in their market," says Bulhack.  "They also see the tremendous cross-promotional value of combining the TV show, live shows, and other 'Mad About' media platforms, which include a robust syndicated MAM website with interactive tools to drive user-engagement along with targeted mobile applications."  

With the possibility of producing up to 6,000 live performances in the first year (both in-school and special shows for parents after school), Mad About Money has the potential to directly touch an audience of approximately 3.6 million tweens and teens, and another 2.7 million adults.  "When we premiered Mad About Money in the schools five years ago, we knew it was an important topic," says Ward Eames, President and Founder of NTC.  "What we didn't know – until the recent economic meltdown – is how timely it would be.  This is a real opportunity to deliver a good message about the importance of financial literacy."  As Bulhack concludes, "Mad About Money media model is unique on two levels.  It offers real cross-promotional platforms and an opportunity for stations to recognize additional local revenue.  That's pretty unusual plus for E/I programming!"

About The National Theatre for Children (NTC)

Founded in 1978, NTC is the largest in-school touring company in the world.  They are dedicated to educating young people on important and timely curricular subjects by offering professional live theatre to our nation's schools.  Based in Minneapolis, NTC has developed the art of teaching through a combination of live theatre, television, print and Web learning into an evidence-based science of its own.  NTC has pioneered dozens of extremely successful programs in health, science, social studies, and financial literacy.  Each year, dozens of troupes perform live educational theatre programs in front of millions of students, in thousands of schools, nationwide.  For more information, visit the NTC Web site at www.nationaltheatre.com or call 1-800-858-3999.

About Big Fish Entertainment (BFE)

Big Fish Entertainment syndicates and distributes over 90 hours of both first-run and off-network programming.  Big Fish Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of IMG Media's non-network programming and works with a notable list of media clients in developing and packaging programming across all broadcast platforms. BFE's other notable clients include: Conde Nast Publications (Allure, Vogue, Glamour, Lucky Magazine, and Gourmet), Meredith Publishing Group (Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, Better Homes & Gardens), Nobel Peace Center, Royal Bank of Scotland, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hometime, Caruso Properties (The Grove in LA), EcoMedia, and KOFY-TV's Your Green Life Series.  For more information, contact President, David Bulhack at [email protected] or (212) 957-4316.

For more information: Katie Griep, Director of Sales and Marketing, [email protected] or 612-341-0882 x202

SOURCE The National Theatre for Children