Sprout(R) Celebrates Valentine's Day With Exclusive Dino-Mite Event Featuring Preschool's Most Popular Dinosaurs

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprout, the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers, is celebrating Valentine's Day with an event of "preschool-historic" proportion.  Airing on Sunday afternoon, February 14 from noon – 3:00 p.m. ET, "Sprout's Dino-Mite Valentine's Sing-A-Long" featuring Barney and Dorothy the Dinosaur, marks the dynamic dinos' first appearance together as they sing songs about love and friendship, showcase special themed crafts, and share Valentine's Day messages sent in from viewers all over the country.

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The three-hour block will feature popular Barney songs such as the classic "I Love You" and the instantly catchy "Dino Dance," which were re-recorded as duets with both Barney and Dorothy for this special event.  Sprout viewers will also enjoy select, friendship-themed episodes culled from both dinos' respective series catalogs.

"It's rare to have two preschool icons such as Barney and Dorothy appearing together on-air," said Andrew Beecham, senior vice president, programming, Sprout.  "We are thrilled that HIT Entertainment and The Wiggles worked together with us on this event so that we could bring our audience something new and extra-special this Valentine's Day.  It's going to be 'dino-mite'!"  

"Visiting Sprout and spending time with Sproutlets is one of my favorite things to do, and everything's better with friends, so this is sure to be a tee-rific event," said Barney.  "I am so excited to sing songs, play games and celebrate one of my favorite holidays – Valentine's Day –with my good friend Dorothy, whom I haven't seen in eras!"

Dorothy the Dinosaur will return to the United States this summer with her good friends and premiere children's entertainers, The Wiggles, on a brand new musical adventure. You can also find her on the big screen this March in The Wiggles – Big Big Show In The Round, the first ever live concert movie made for preschoolers, which will be playing in select theatres across the nation. For complete details, please visit www.thewiggles.com.  Additionally, Sprout will debut the Dorothy the Dinosaur series on Sprout On Demand on March 12.  

Children can enjoy more fun with Barney™ when Barney: Egg-Cellent Adventures springs onto DVD March 2, 2010 from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment. Baskets full of egg-citement abound when Mother Goose, a nest full of eggs, and a mysterious, carrot-eating visitor bring super-Dino adventures to the whole family.

For additional information on Sprout programs or schedules, or to play games, download free coloring pages or find great activities for kids, visit SproutOnline.com.  To find out where Sprout is available in your area, call 1.8.SPROUT.411 or go to SproutPlease.com.  

About Sprout®

PBS KIDS Sprout, the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers, was created as a partnership among Comcast Corporation, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop.  Since debuting its video on demand (VOD) service in April 2005, Sprout has become the #1 On Demand service for younger children, generating over half a billion views.  The 24-hour digital channel, which launched in September 2005 along with the website (SproutOnline.com), is the only channel that follows the day of child from breakfast to bedtime with its distinctive programming.  Currently, Sprout is available in 48 million unique households.

The network's program lineup of gold-standard, curriculum-based children's shows includes:  Sesame Street®, Bob the Builder™, Barney & Friends™, The Wiggles®, Thomas & Friends™, Angelina Ballerina™, Caillou®, The Berenstain Bears™, Dragon Tales™, Make Way For Noddy™, Fireman Sam™, Fifi and the Flowertots™ and more.

About HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment's Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America, as well as Wallace & Gromit™, Shaun the Sheep™, Timmy Time™ and Aardman Classics from Aardman Animations.  HIT also acts as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK. Launched in 1989, HIT's lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing and live events and has operations in the UK, U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Japan.   HIT is a part-owner of U.S.-based preschool channel, PBS KIDS Sprout(SM), and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the U.S., UK and China). For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.

About The Wiggles

The Wiggles, the world's #1 preschool entertainers, performed over 300 shows to more than 1.5 million fans since 2005 in the United States alone.  The Wiggles perform over 200 shows annually across four continents.  The Wiggles are seen on TV in over 110 countries worldwide.  Fans are able to catch The Wiggles on television exclusively in the U.S. on the 24-hour preschool network Sprout . Now in their nineteenth year, The Wiggles have sold more than 22.5 million videos and 7 million CDs in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

SOURCE PBS KIDS Sprout