UMIGO Licensed by Vme Kids for Exclusive Spanish-Language Broadcast, Streaming and Online Interactivity
TORONTO, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UMIGO, the fun, free online world of adventure that helps early elementary-age children discover the fundamentals of math, has partnered with family-friendly, children's content-creating studio DHX Media to license UMIGO videos and appisodes to Vme Media, Inc. for exclusive Spanish-language television broadcast on Vme TV stations across the U.S. and streaming on vmetv.com. UMIGO content is currently available online at umigo.com as well as in more than 70 children's museums and libraries across the United States. This is the first time content from UMIGO will be available for broadcast in Spanish.
Through fun and vibrant stories, music videos, and games, UMIGO – You Make It Go – (umigo.com) provides early elementary age children with the building blocks that will help them acquire early math skills, encouraging them to become active learners, critical thinkers, and problem solvers.
Included in this agreement are 20 three-minute music videos, eight nine-minute appisodes, and one eight-minute short.
UMIGO is funded in part by a U.S. Department of Education Ready to Learn grant awarded to WTTW Chicago. UMIGO is created in association with DHX Media, who are also international distributors for the project. Vme TV will broadcast the fun appisodes of UMIGO on Vme Niños, its morning preschool programming bloc for kids ages 3 to 8 years old.
Free, downloadable at-home activities, available at UMIGO.com, are designed to engage children as well as parents and educators, making learning a shared, enriching experience. As UMIGO's animated characters Bean, Bit, and Dizzy save the day from broken roller coasters, ancient mummies and more, the narrative-driven stories help children discover how to think about and use math, while catchy music videos reinforce the story's main educational concepts. UMIGO's educational content is aligned with the Common Core Standards for Mathematics for the first and second grades.
For more information on UMIGO, please visit umigo.com or the UMIGO Facebook page.
About UMIGO
UMIGO is funded in part by a U.S. Department of Education Ready to Learn grant awarded to WTTW Chicago. DHX Media is the project's creative partner with Chief Content Officer and Executive Producer Tina Peel heading up the UMIGO creative team. Research and evaluation is provided by The Michael Cohen Group. Community-based partnerships are developed by the Children's Museum of Manhattan, along with HFG Enterprises, Inc.
Guided by a curriculum team of highly respected educators, the project's educational content is aligned with the Common Core Standards for Mathematics for the first and second grades. The animated characters in the narrative stories model strategies for thinking about and using math, while music videos reinforce the story's main educational concepts. As the narrative unfolds, the child becomes an active participant, applying newly acquired math concepts and skills within embedded games and activities. New appisodes are being released every few weeks, ensuring fresh and interesting content for both kids and parents to enjoy.
About WTTW Chicago
WTTW Chicago, a division of Chicago PBS station WTTW and Window to the World Communications, Inc., is a premier producer and presenter of original, high-quality programming for both public and commercial television broadcast and online distribution. For almost 60 years, WTTW Chicago has introduced a wide array of groundbreaking cross-platform content – reflecting the world's rich and diverse arts and entertainment scene as well as education, politics, public affairs, business, and religion – to a national audience. Its landmark innovative series and original productions include the critically-acclaimed performance showcases Soundstage®, Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis; Proclamation of Hope and David Broza at Masada: The Sunrise Concert; cultural series Grannies on Safari; MEXICO – One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless and Pedal America; the business series CEO Exchange; the documentary series Retirement Revolution; the weekly movie review series Ebert Presents At the Movies; the creative arts series The Artist Toolbox; the transmedia online educational children's properties Mission to Planet 429 and UMIGO, and the award-winning children's series WordWorld. Learn more about WTTW Chicago national productions. More information about WTTW is available at wttw.com, or by following WTTW on Twitter and Facebook.
About VME TELEVISION
Vme TV (pronounced veh-meh), is the first national Spanish-language television network in association with public television stations. Reaching more than 70 million households in the United States, Vme TV is broadcast in 43 markets by PBS stations and is available on DIRECTV, DISH Network, AT&TU-verse, as well as major cable companies including Comcast. The 24-hour digital broadcast service is dedicated to entertain, educate and inspire families in Spanish with a contemporary mix of original productions, exclusive premieres, acquisitions, and popular public television programs specially adapted for Hispanics. To find your local channel or to learn more about Vme TV, visit vmetv.com or follow us on social media via facebook.com/vmetv or twitter.com/vmetv.
About DHX Media Ltd.
DHX Media Ltd. (dhxmedia.com), a key player internationally in the creation of content for families and children, is recognized globally for such brands as Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Teletubbies, In the Night Garden, Inspector Gadget, Johnny Test, Slugterra and the multi-award winning Degrassi franchise. DHX Media Ltd. is the owner of Family Channel, the most-viewed children's television channel in Canada, as well as the channels Family Junior (English & French) and Family XTRM in Canada. The Company markets and distributes its library of more than 11,000 half-hours of entertainment programming worldwide, and licenses its owned properties through its dedicated consumer products business. DHX Media Ltd.'s full-service international licensing agency, Copyright Promotions Licensing Group Ltd. (CPLG), represents numerous entertainment, sport and design brands. DHX Media Ltd. has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Munich, and Amsterdam, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Disclaimers
This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to DHX Media including the timing of the television debut and other availability of the UMIGO content and the educational impact of the content. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on information currently available to the Company. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, among other things, include risks factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time, including matters discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's short-form prospectuses dated November 14, 2013 and December 31, 2013, Annual Information Form, and annual Management Discussion and Analysis. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
UMIGO was developed under a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the U.S. Federal Government.
SOURCE UMIGO
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