Electronic Game Card Inc. To Launch Thomas & Friends(TM) Educational GameCards(TM)
Tuesday July 15, 7:55 am ET
EGC signs multi-year licensing agreement with HIT Entertainment to produce Thomas & Friends(TM) Educational GameCards(TM)
NEW YORK and LONDON, July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Electronic Game Card, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: EGMI - News; "EGC"), announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with HIT Entertainment, one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights owners, to exclusively produce Thomas & Friends EGC Educational GameCards(TM) for the United Kingdom with further opportunities to expand in North America, Europe and Asia.
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Thomas and Friends is the UK's number one licensed children's toy property in the UK (source: NPD 2008) and has delighted children around the world for more than 60 years" commented an EGC spokesman, "By linking that affection with the patented EGC technology we can create a new category of EGC Educational GameCards(TM) that pre-schoolers can play with, learn with and enjoy with their friends and family. The EGC Educational GameCards(TM) will also teach the core development needs of pre-school children in a way that children will enjoy and adults will approve. EGC is proud to announce the first license for our Educational Toys division with HIT and will have the first product ready to sell by the end of 2008".
EGC analysis of global product markets identified that there is a significant market for the company's patented technology within the Toys and Game sector for the EGC Educational GameCards(TM). Therefore the company's strategy is to grow and develop its extensive product manufacturing experience and further expand the chip programming software and technology knowledge to the Toys and Games Sector. EGC will then take new products to established distribution partners to exclusively license the products in this thriving global market. In the USA and the United Kingdom the licensed Toys and Games sector generated revenues in excess of $8 billion in 2007.
Thomas and Friends has been the number one preschool toy property in the UK for the past 8 years and is broadcast in over 145 territories around the world. Thomas & Friends was created by The Reverend W. Awdry in 1945 and over 200 million books have been sold worldwide in over 40 languages. It was also recently announced that Thomas & Friends will move to a fresh, new programming look as the television series moves to CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) animation. The television show was first broadcast in 1984. The Thomas & Friends website attracts over 30 million visitors each month.
"EGC is very pleased to be entering this exciting market which offers enormous potential for our technology and expertise. The initial EGC Education "Thomas and Friends (TM)" GameCard(TM) is the launch of the company's "play & learn" product line for preschoolers. EGC's Educational GameCard(TM) product strategy includes a spelling GameCard, a math GameCard and a GameCards that matches sounds to story characters," said an EGC Spokesperson. "This announcement with the news that gaming magnate Lord Leonard Steinberg will become Chairman of the company following our annual meeting, alongside new directors Eugene Christensen and Anna Housels continues the company's positive growth strategy. The company is extremely positive with regards to the near term potential of the company's Gaming product lines in the North American marketplace."
