DreamWorks Animation Television

DreamWorks Animation Television (formerly DreamWorks Television Animation, abbreviated as DWATV) is an American animation studio that serves as the television production arm of DreamWorks Animation, itself a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. Its first programs from the 1990s and early 2000s used the live-action television logo, and were produced by DreamWorks Television, before DWATV and its parent company were spun off into an independent company in 2004 and later purchased by NBCUniversal in 2016. In total, the division has released 60 programs, with 6 in development.

History

The company was first formed in 1996 as the animation division of DreamWorks Television, a subsidiary of the main live-action DreamWorks Pictures studio. DreamWorks Pictures also had an animated film subsidiary named DreamWorks Animation, although DreamWorks Television Animation did not operate as a subsidiary of it in the 1990s. DreamWorks' television division was spearheaded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg and was headed by former Walt Disney Television Animation executives Gary Krisel and David Simon.[1] DWTA only produced two series: Invasion America and Toonsylvania. In a move to consolidate, DreamWorks Television Animation was shut down in 1999 with the direct-to-video subsidiary subsequently merged into the studio's feature animation division, as a way for the company to reorganize its animation divisions to operate under one umbrella.[2] More than two-thirds of the television division's 50 employees were transferred to the direct-to-video unit and it was expected that only a minimal number of employees would be affected by the reorganization.[2]

In September 2001, an animated series for Fox Kids titled Alienators: Evolution Continues was produced, based on the 2001 live-action film Evolution, which was released earlier in 2001 by DreamWorks Pictures in North America, with Columbia Pictures handling international distribution.[3] Since DreamWorks Television Animation had shut down by this point, the series was handled by DIC Entertainment along with the main DreamWorks Television division (Columbia TriStar Television would be credited in DreamWorks' place in foreign territories). It lasted 26 episodes before being cancelled in 2002.

In August 2004, DreamWorks Animation produced their first animated television series, a 3D animated series titled Father of the Pride for NBC. It too would be short-lived, only lasting one season consisting of 15 episodes.

In December 2005, it was announced that Paramount Pictures' parent company Viacom was purchasing DreamWorks' live-action film and television studios, with the $1.6 billion deal being finalized at the beginning of February 2006.[4] The deal included the library of the defunct DreamWorks Television Animation,[5] as well as including a six-year distribution agreement for past and future DreamWorks Animation films, with DreamWorks Animation having split into its own separate company in October 2004.[4] Viacom's children's division Nickelodeon were also given the rights to co-produce television shows based on characters from DreamWorks Animation films.[6] The rights to Father of the Pride remained with DreamWorks Animation when it spun off from DreamWorks Pictures in October 2004.[7] Paramount gained partial ownership of Alienators: Evolution Continues, as the rights to this show were originally split between DIC Entertainment and DreamWorks Television, with DiC catalog holder WildBrain currently holding distribution rights. DreamWorks' live-action film and television studios briefly operated as labels of Paramount, before becoming independent entities again in late 2008, due to internal tensions.[8] Following the split, Paramount still retained the rights to the libraries of DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Television and DreamWorks Television Animation; the split also did not affect its ongoing distribution agreement with DreamWorks Animation.[9] Paramount's distribution agreement with DreamWorks Animation ended on December 31, 2012, and in July 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced they had reacquired the distribution rights to their films from Paramount, transferring these rights to their new theatrical and home video distribution partner 20th Century Fox.[10]

In 2013, DreamWorks Animation entered a multi-year content deal with Netflix to provide 300 hours of exclusive original content.[11] The intent of the deal was to establish a reliable income for the studio to defray the financial risk of solely relying on the theatrical film market.[12] The next day, DWA completed a five-year licensing agreement with Super RTL for the Classic Media library and the Netflix slate.[13] DWA announced executive hiring for its new television group, DreamWorks Animation Television in late July. Former Nickelodeon senior executive Margie Cohn became Head of Television for the group.[14] In September that same year, DreamWorks announced that it has acquired the television library of London-based Chapman Entertainment with the programs to distributed through DWA's UK-based television distribution operation.[15]

In late 2014, DreamWorks Animation launched its own channel called the DreamWorks Channel. DreamWorks made a deal with HBO Asia to handle affiliate sales, marketing and technical services, the network will launch in several Asian countries (excluding China and Japan) in the second half of 2015.[16] The channel first premiered in English on August 1, 2015, and a Thai-dubbed channel launched in September 2015.[17] In 2016, DreamWorks Animation Television and its parent company were purchased by Comcast through its NBCUniversal subsidiary.[18][19][20]

Television series

Films

Television specials

Short films

See also

• List of Universal Television programs
• List of Universal Animation Studios productions

External links