The Cookie Jar Group (also known as The Cookie Jar Company) is a Canadian producer of children's educational and entertainment programs and materials. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with offices in Paris, Quebec, Los Angeles and Tokyo among other places. Cookie Jar Group, made up of two divisions, Cookie Jar Entertainment and Cookie Jar Education, develops, produces, distributes and markets to children, their caregivers, parents and teachers.
In its previous incarnation as Cinar (pronounced seh-NAR), the company enjoyed an illustrious existence that ultimately ended in scandal.[1] Cinar was an integrated entertainment and education company involved in the development, production, post-production and worldwide distribution of family entertainment programming and educational products.
History
20th century
The 1994–2005 Cinar logo. The 1976–1994 logo had the "N" and "A" connected.
After their 1976 meeting in New Orleans, future spouses Micheline Charest and Ronald A. Weinberg organized an event for a women's film festival, and worked at distributing foreign films to US theatres. The couple moved to New York and formed Cinar, a film and television distribution company.
In 1984, Cinar changed their focus from media distribution to production, and moved operations to Montreal, where they concentrated on children's television programming (including Animal Crackers, Emily of New Moon, Mona the Vampire, and The Wombles), as well as the English and French dubs of the anime series Adventures of the Little Koala and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Spain-originating TV series The World of David the Gnome. As a production company, Cinar was also involved in the work of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Madeline, Space Cases and, its most famous work, Arthur and Zoboomafoo. The firm became a public company in September 1993. By 1999, Cinar boasted annual revenues of $150 million (CAD) and owned about $1.5 billion (CAD) of the children's television market. In the late 1990s, Cinar bought the rights to all the shows owned and made by British animation company FilmFair. The company had become known for its children's programs, broadcast in more than 150 countries.
Scandal
The success of Charest, Weinberg, and Cinar ended in March 2000, when an internal audit revealed that about $122 million (US) was invested into Bahamian bank accounts without the boardmembers' approval.[1] Cinar had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept Canadian federal grants for content. The names of Canadian authors were credited for the work, allowing Cinar to benefit from Canadian tax credits. While the province of Quebec did not file criminal charges, Cinar denied any wrongdoing, choosing instead to pay a settlement to Canadian and Quebec tax authorities of $17.8 million (CAD) and another $2.6 million (CAD) to Telefilm Canada, a Canadian federal funding agency. The value of Cinar stock plummeted, and the company was soon delisted.[2]
In 2001, as part of a settlement agreement with the Société des Valeures Mobilières du Québec (Quebec Securities Commission) Charest and Weinberg agreed to pay $1 million each and were banned from serving in the capacity of directors or officers at any publicly traded Canadian company for five years. There was no admission of guilt and none of the allegations have been proven in court.
Purchase and rebranding
In March 2004, Cinar was purchased for more than CA$190 million by a group led by Nelvana founder, Michael Hirsh.[3] and former Nelvana President, Toper Taylor. Charest and Weinberg reportedly received $18 million (US) for their company shares.
The Company was subsequently rebranded under new management as The Cookie Jar Group.
Recent activity
On July 23, 2008, Cookie Jar bought DIC Entertainment, another large childrens' television producer,[4] and is in negotiation with American Greetings to buy the Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, and Sushi Pack franchise. The deal is expected to finalize on September 30, 2008.[5]
Cookie Jar and Weigel Broadcasting will provide childrens' and E/I-oriented programming for the new US digital television network This TV, which is scheduled to launch on October 1, 2008.[6]
Television programs
This list also includes productions by the British company FilmFair, but not DIC Entertainment.
See also
References
- ^ a b Swift, Allan (March 15, 2002). "Cinar Co-Founders Fined $1 Million Each, Banned From Company For Five Years", Canadian Press Newswire.
- ^ "In Depth: Micheline Charest", CBC News Online (2004-04-14). Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ "Cinar sold for $143.9 million US; new owner outlines growth strategy", CBC News Online (October 31, 2003). Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ DIC TO MERGE WITH COOKIE JARDIC Entertainment
- ^ Cookie Jar Group (2008-07-23). "Cookie Jar Entertainment to Acquire American Greetings' Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears Properties". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.
- ^ Weigel, MGM Launch "This" Network, Chicago Sun Times, July 28, 2008
External links
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