MUMBAI: Odyssey Entertainment has acquired the licensing/distribution rights to 31 hours of animated children’s content from Dominique Paul Mougenot (DPM).

The recently completed transaction was initiated in May of this year at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where Odyssey’s president/CEO, John Foster, scouted for content deals to add inventory to Odyssey Entertainment’s programming line. Odyssey purchased the rights to numerous animated shorts from DPM, including titles from the following cartoon classics: Superman, Popeye, Casper, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The package also includes various holiday cartoons, nursery classics and the 75-minute, cell-animated feature Gulliver’s Travels produced by Paramount Studios in 1939 based on Jonathan Swift’s 18th Century novel.

The recent DPM programming package adds to Odyssey’s pre-existing collection consisting of 10 hours of children’s content. Odyssey will digitize its growing programming library and re-distribute it over multiple media platforms, including satellite and IPTV digital broadcasting.

The DPM content deal marks the latest development in Odyssey’s evolving business model. Although initially an entertainment company that focused on the financing and distribution of motion pictures, Odyssey has adapted over the past two years to become a diversified media/marketing services company. The company’s business now encompasses branding & marketing services, online lead generation, entertainment content distribution, IPTV digital delivery technologies, IT platform management, and corporate finance.

Foster stated, ‘This latest content acquisition gives us a solid foundation to begin building our entertainment inventory. It’s very gratifying to see our game plan coming together in a tangible way. This is an important step in building a multi-media platform.’