Skunk Fu:
Right,first of all Skunk Fu (SF) IS 'global' in the full meaning of the word!
GON own 15% of the animation series and do or did have the opportunity to increase this percentage.
GON own the global licensing and merchandising rights except for the German speaking countries due to Super RTL owning a larger equity stake in SF ie more than 15%.
GON will gain from DVD sales which will be released in the UK in June 2008
From the recent results:
"Having a toy company within Galleon also provides potential benefits for our children's brands like Skunk fu!.
In 2008 we have some opportunities to develop manufacture and supply a retail focused toy line for distribution in markets where the show is on air.
This ability to develop and manufacture toys ourselves means that we are able to get additional product that compliments that of our Licensees into market at the right time for the chosen brand."
What I believe the above statement is saying is that along with the other Toy manufacturers who will have to pay GON license fees for SF merchandise GON's own Croco will be adding to the toy production line to gain direct profits.
There could also be some interactive action from Phoenix regarding SF in China and SE Asia in the future,just guessing though.
The link below shows a rough time scale originally from October 2007:
http://www.worldscreen.com/propertycurrent.php?filename=skunfu100207.htm
The biggest challenge for licensing in 2008 is the lack of good quality childrens television content. Ultimately, the licensing industry is most akin to the fashion industry it requires innovation and freshness to drive the market. This is a perennial issue for the industry rather than something specific to 2008. The ability for independent production companies to deliver this freshness is being eroded currently due to poor advertising revenues negatively impacting broadcaster production budgets. Thankfully for Galleon, Skunk Fu is driving strong ratings in the UK and the US and demonstrates that a fresh concept can cut through to the consumer, which in turn is leading to strong licensing interest.
Len Dunne, MD, Galleon
http://www.licensing.biz/features/16/HOT-TOPIC-Industry-challenges-in-2008