Video game lifestyle cable network G4 and toymaker Hasbro Inc. have joined forces to create Action Blast, a one-hour live-action and animation programming block that airs on G4. The strategic partnership will also see other joint projects aimed at bringing Hasbro’s many brands to the G4 audience.
Produced by Hasbro in association with Tango Pix, Action Blast features series based on such Hasbro franchises as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Beastwars and B-Daman. Viewers also get interstitials featuring characters from Kaiju Big Battel, a tongue-in-cheek, underground wrestling circuit inspired by Japanese monster movies, and minute-long animated battles between popular Hasbro action figures.
“G4 is the perfect television destination for Hasbro to reach the young male audience, and this partnership enables G4 to bring our viewers a retro-cool block of gamer-friendly programming,” says G$ COO Dale Hopkins. “With the Transformers feature film due out next summer, there is clearly a high demand for Hasbro entertainment.”
Hasbro is also helping to develop entertainment for G4’s late night block, Barbed Wire Biscuit, witch includes the animated series Happy Tree friends and Friends, produced by Mondo Media. Other avenues for collaboration being explored include video on demand (VOD), broadband and wireless platforms.
Owned by Comcast Corp., G4 launched in April of 2002 and eventually took over Tech-TV, a cable network dedicated largely to gadget hounds and gear heads. Action Blast! airs every day at 8 a.m. ET/PT, with weekend installments featuring best-of recaps of the week’s episodes. More information about G4 programming, including the Anime Unleashed block, can be found at www.g4tv.com.
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