Press Releases & News Briefs

LAZYTOWN TO DEBUT EXCLUSIVELY IN U.S. ON 24-HOUR PRESCHOOL TELEVISION CHANNEL SPROUT® ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

LazyTown will premiere exclusively in the U.S. on the 24-hour preschool television channel Sprout beginning Monday, September 5, 2011.  Airing twice daily, Monday through Friday at 8:30 a.m. and again at 2:30 p.m., LazyTown is a mix of live and animated characters that come to life in an energetic and colorful world motivating kids through play to be active and make positive life choices. 

LazyTown is the fictional home of Sportacus, Stephanie, Trixie, Pixel, Ziggy, Stingy and Robbie Rotten. The four puppet characters - Ziggy, Pixel, Stingy and Trixie - represent some of the challenges all kids face in daily life: making healthy choices, sharing, making friends, and more. Sportacus is the larger-than-life action hero, who is the flipside of Robbie Rotten, representing positive and negative approaches to life. Stephanie is visiting LazyTown and her enthusiasm about making healthy choices helps pull it all together.

"It's never too soon to start talking to your children about healthy habits," said Andrew Beecham, senior vice president, programming, Sprout.  "LazyTown takes the important lessons of eating right and exercising and makes them simple and fun for both parents and preschoolers.  At Sprout, our programming has always been about inspiring parent-child interaction through unique, learning-based entertainment, and LazyTown is the perfect addition to our gold-standard line-up." 

LazyTown creator Magnus Scheving launched the LazyTown brand in 1995 as a storybook for children in his native country of Iceland.  By the following year, LazyTown morphed from a live stage show, to a television show seen in more than 135 countries.  Now airing exclusively on Sprout in the U.S., LazyTown and its entertainment brands enjoy enormous respect from parents, educators and international Governments alike for its positive key messages about establishing healthy lifestyles.

"The important lessons about developing healthy lifestyle habits have positively impacted millions of children the world over," commented Scheving.  "We are so excited to have LazyTown airing on Sprout for U.S. audiences where preschool aged children can be exposed to a healthy habits lifestyle in a fun and age-appropriate environment."

For additional information on Sprout programs or schedules, or to play games, download free coloring pages or find great activities for kids, visit SproutOnline.com.  To find out where Sprout is available in your area, call 1.8.SPROUT.411 or go to SproutOnline.com. 

About Sprout®
Available in over 50 million homes, Sprout is the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for children ages 2-5 and their parents and caregivers.  The 24-hour digital channel, which launched in September 2005 along with the website (SproutOnline.com), is the only channel that follows the day of a preschooler from breakfast to bedtime with its distinctive, interactive programming and original hosted blocks.  Sprout's VOD offering is the #1 on demand service for younger children with over one billion views. 

Sprout is a partnership among NBCUniversal, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop.  Its program lineup of gold-standard, curriculum-based preschool shows includes:  Sesame Street®, Bob the Builder™, Barney & Friends™, The Wiggles®, Thomas & Friends™,  Caillou®, The Berenstain Bears™, Roary the Racing Car™,  dirtgirlworld and more.

About LazyTown
LazyTown is a children's entertainment brand dedicated to promoting health and wellbeing in a fun way. This is its unique selling point, and by remaining committed to this, LazyTown Entertainment has been able to develop the brand with integrity and authenticity.  Today, the high-definition television series consists of 53 LazyTown episodes, and 26 LazyTown Extra episodes produced with the BBC, and is currently broadcast in 128 countries. The TV series remains the company's core asset, and it continues to be broadcast worldwide to a recurring market of pre-school children.  LazyTown is on a mission to move the world to be a healthier place. When we get kids moving, we get their families moving. And when families move, we are one step closer to moving the world. Move the body, move the mind, every day.

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Press Contact:
Jenni Glenn      
Sprout     
215-286-2703    
jenni_glenn@sproutonline.com