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• To support UNICEF’s Girls’ Education campaign, or contact the UNICEF office nearest you. • Fox Kids Europe |
AMSTERDAM, LONDON, 5 February 2003 -- Fox Kids Europe N.V. (FKE) (AMEX: FKE; Reuters: FOXK.AS; Bloomberg: FKE.NA), the leading pan-European integrated children’s entertainment company, today announced a partnership with UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund) to promote UNICEF’s Go Girls! Education for Every Child campaign via the Fox Kids Cup, FKE’s global six-a-side football tournament for boys and girls under 13 years of age.
The Go Girls! campaign is a major part of UNICEF’s initiative to get girls into school in 25 priority countries by 2005.
FKE and UNICEF will work together on a series of promotional initiatives throughout the five-month build-up to the Fox Kids Cup international final, which will take place in the Netherlands during June 2003. All children participating in the Fox Kids Cup will be asked to collect pledges from spectators, fans and friends in support of girl’s education and UNICEF’s Go Girls! campaign. The pledge outlines what it takes to ensure every child has the best possible education. Fox Kids channels and online divisions across Europe, the Middle East and the affiliate Latin America channel will also promote the campaign on a local basis. UNICEF is also working closely with national governments on the campaign.
The Fox Kids Cup 2003 event will be the biggest in its history with an expected participation of more than 200,000 players from 20 or more countries around the world. Each participating country will host tournaments in association with national football federations or schools’ associations. The tournaments will commence in February 2003 and will take place in more than 130 cities around the world.
FKE and UNICEF first teamed up last year to promote Say Yes for Children, a campaign in which over 94 million people pledged support for ten basic principles to protect and improve the lives of children. The Go Girls! Education for Every Child builds on the results of Say Yes for Children, which identified education as the top global priority.
Marjorie Newman-Williams, Director of the Division of Communication, UNICEF says: “Across the world, football has positively shaped and changed young lives by simply upholding children’s right to play. This partnership gives us the chance to spotlight the right to education as fundamental to every child’s development. Every effort to get a girl into school is one that helps to safeguard not only her future but also that of an entire generation of girls and boys.”
Shari Donnenfield, Executive Director of Research and Marketing, Fox Kids Europe and Fox Kids Cup, says: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with UNICEF once again in supporting the Go Girls! campaign. UNICEF’s commitment to sport and children makes it the ideal partner for the Fox Kids Cup and we hope that the Cup will provide the ideal vehicle for UNICEF to reach out to thousands of children around the world and mobilise them to support other kids less fortunate than themselves.”
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About UNICEF’s Girls’ Education campaign:
UNICEF’s ‘25 by 2005’ campaign is a major initiative to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education in 25 priority countries by the year 2005. The campaign, which includes fifteen countries in Africa and Asian countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh, focuses on countries where girls’ education is in a critical situation and progress would make a real impact.
UNICEF will work closely with national governments and other partners to identify girls who are not in school. In each country, UNICEF will work with the government to mobilise new resources, build broad national consensus about the need to get girls to school, and help improve schools themselves to make them more welcoming to girls.
UNICEF has chosen a manageable number of countries and based its selection
on criteria that looked for countries with one or more of the following:
low enrolment rates for girls; gender gaps of more than 10% in primary
education enrolment; countries with more than one million girls out
of school; countries included on the Education For All Fast Track initiative;
and countries hard hit by a range of crises that affect school opportunities
for girls, such as HIV/AIDS and conflict.
For further information please contact:
Allison Hickling, UNICEF
New York, (212) 326-7224, ahickling@unicef.org
About Fox Kids Europe N.V.:
Fox Kids Europe N.V. (FKE) is the leading pan-European integrated children’s entertainment company with localised television channels, programme distribution and consumer products businesses. FKE’s business lines are driven by a localised approach and its ownership of one of the largest and most recognised libraries of children’s programming in the world, which includes approximately 6,300 episodes. FKE is listed on Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
Channels
FKE produces and broadcasts television channels for children aged 2-14. The content of each is tailored specifically to the local audience in each market, taking into account viewing habits, popularity of programmes, parental sensitivities and cultural trends. Fox Kids channels are currently broadcasting via cable and satellite to 56 countries, reaching more than 32 million households in 17 languages. FKE’s main markets include the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, the Nordic Region, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Russia and Israel.
FKE also offers interactive TV games channels, ‘Fox Kids Play’, in France and Israel and operates 17 localised websites for the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Norway, Italy, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Programme Distribution
FKE owns one of the largest libraries of children’s programming
in Europe. Programming from its library is distributed via Buena Vista
International Television to more than 120 different terrestrial, cable
and satellite channels in over 50 markets across Europe and the Middle
East. This library includes major global programming franchises such
as Power Rangers, Spiderman, X-Men, Inspector Gadget and Goosebumps.
The rights for most of the titles in the FKE library cover all markets
in Europe and the Middle East and include many forms of media.
Consumer Products
FKE’s consumer product activities include toys, merchandising and home videos sold in 30 European countries. FKE is present in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Benelux and also retains third party agents in other European markets. FKE’s consumer product properties are sourced from the FKE library and include properties such as Power Rangers and Inspector Gadget as well as third party agreements for properties such as Digimon, Medabots and Totally Spies.
For further details and information about the latest Fox Kids Europe
press releases:
- Fox Kids Europe N.V. announces audited results for the fifteen months
ended September 30, 2002 and unaudited results for the year ended
June 30, 2002
December 18, 2002 - Fox Kids Europe appoints Bruce Steinberg as new Chief Executive
Officer
December 17, 2002 - Fox Kids Europe launches Fox Kids Cup 2003
January 3, 2003
Louise Drabwell
Corporate Communications Department
Fox Kids Europe Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7554 9000
Fax: +44 (0)20 7554 9144
Email: Louise.Drabwell@foxkidseurope.com
Website: or www.foxkidscupinfo.com
