Nelvana, producers and distributors of children's programming and products owned by Canada-based Corus Entertainment, has inked a video-on-demand agreement with British Telecommunications Inc. (BT) in the UK.

Coming on the heels of recent North American partnerships with Comcast and Rogers (along with preschool broadcaster Treehouse), this deal widens the scope of Nelvana's on-demand initiatives to include Europe.

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Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (episodes 1-15), Little Bear (episodes 1-15), Babar (episodes 1-15), Max & Ruby (episodes 1-15) and The Fairly Odd Parents (episodes 1-15) are among the initial family entertainment programs Nelvana will make available to BT's next-generation TV offering, slated to launch by late summer/fall 2006, states an official release.

BT customers will be able to access a range of on-demand film, music and television programming combined with interactive and communication features with no mandatory monthly subscription fee. The service will be combining access to digital terrestrial channels through the aerial with broadband-powered video-on-demand, the release adds.

"It's an exciting time for content producers as the promise of on-demand services and next-generation TV platforms is realized through providers such as BT," says Nelvana's executive VP of business development Doug Murphy. "This deal opens the European video-on-demand market to Nelvana's deep library of animated family programming, and we are proud to have gained this foothold with an innovative partner like BT."

BT Retail TV Services CEO Dan Marks adds, "We are building a fantastic entertainment offering for the entire family and are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Nelvana, which will bring their extremely popular, high-quality and family-friendly animated programming to our service and our customers."