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	Fünf Freunde Besonderheiten der Serie von 1978 Die Suche nach den TV- und Videorechten

Never ending Story - Oder die Rechtesuche nach den alten Fünf Freunden 1978-1979

Southern Television

Dear Karli,

Thank you for your enquiry and apologies for delay in replying.
Unfortunately trying to trace programmes made for or by Southern Television is now somewhat of a cold trail to search, for as far as I can ascertain when Meridian took over from TVS, the company that took over from Southern Television, at least half or more of their archive was sold off to a company called Saban Entertainment.
This company was then taken over by an Australian Company, which in turn was taken over by an American company. The last considered location for some of this material was with Twentieth Century Fox but that's only guess work not fact. Of course along with all off these takeovers etc. some of the material may have been sold off or just not retained. So in essence the material could have been scattered to the four winds. With regard to the material that was kept by Meridian this now resides in the Wessex Film Archive. I hope this information is of some help, as regrettably it's all we have.

Regards
Robin Bray

Super RTL

Sehr geehrter Herr Karli,

vielen Dank für Ihre erneute E-Mail.

Gerne würden wir Ihnen weiterhelfen, jedoch können wir Ihnen aus rechtlichen Gründen nicht mitteilen, über wen wir damals die Ausstrahlungsrechte bezogen haben. Dabei handelt es sich um interne Daten, die nicht für Dritte bestimmt sind. Wir hoffen auf Ihr Verständnis.

Wir bedauern Ihnen keine bessere Nachricht geben zu können, wünschen Ihnen aber auch weiterhin viel Spaß und gute Unterhaltung bei Super RTL.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Ihre Super RTL Zuschauerredaktion (Mailto: zuschauerinfo@superrtl.de)

Southern Television 2

Dear Karli

Southern Star own the rights, but there has been no demand for these so they have been removed from sale.

Very best regards
Judy (Mailto: JInnes@sstar.com.au)

Chorion

Dear Karli,

Several fans in Germany and Austria have written to us recently about the 1970s DVD. Further to my previous email, our legal team has investigated the rights situation relating to this series. Chorion actually does not own the rights to release the DVD you are after; these rights lie with Zenith North (previously called Portman Entertainment and Family Film AG), who have to get our permission before releasing any Famous Five episodes. Perhaps you should contact Zenith with your request.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you.
Kind regards,
Esra Cafer

Zenith North

I can confirm that Zenith Entertainment/Zenith North do not hold any rights in this version of the Famous Five - You will need to contact Chorion at the following address and numbers.

Chorion PLC
Aldwych House
81 Aldwych
London, WC2B 4HN

Tel: +44 20 7061 3800
Fax: +44 20 7061 3801

Zwischenkommentar

PO BOX 1015
JOONDALUP 6919, Western Australia

Lieber Herr Böhm,

vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail und Ihr Interesse an Super RTL.

Gerne helfen wir Ihnen weiter. Nach Rücksprache mit unserer Redaktion teilen wir Ihnen gerne mit, dass alle Rechte zu Enid Blyton liegen bei Chorion in England liegen.

Wir hoffen, dass wir Ihnen mit diesen Informationen weiterhelfen konnten und wünschen Ihnen auch weiterhin viel Spaß und gute Unterhaltung bei Super RTL.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Ihre Super RTL Zuschauerredaktion

Citel Video

Monsieur Karli,

Suite à votre demande, je vous informe que nous ne disposons plus de la licence du Club des Cinq depuis près de 5 ans, et de plus nous n'éditons plus de VHS depuis début 2005.
En revanche ces références doivent être produites par une autre maison d'édition, mais je ne détiens pas cette information.
Je vous prie de croire, Monsieur Karli, en l'expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs.

Cécile Martineau
CITEL VIDEO
Assistante commerciale
Tel : 01 53 26 31 40
Fax : 01 53 26 31 32
Mail : c.martineau@citel-video.fr

"PRIMETIME" – des Rätsels Lösung!!!

Dear Karli,

Southern Star owns the rights, but there has been no demand for these so they have been removed from sale.

Very best regards

Judy
(Personal Assistant to Cathy Payne, Southern Star International, Sales)
http://www.southernstargroup.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=Blyton

CC: Kirsten Cargill (kcargill@sstar.uk.com), Cathy Meacock (cmeacock@sstar.uk.com), Judy Innes (JInnes@sstar.com.au)

Dear Karli,
Thank you for your email. While I appreciate your loyal following of the series, there are no current plans to have the series released on DVD and/or licensed to TV in Germany.

Regards

Cathy Payne

Catherine Payne
Chief Executive
Southern Star International
Phone: 61-2-9202 8506; Fax: 61-2-9956 6918; Mobile: 61-417 220575
Email: cpayne@sstar.com.au
Website: www.southernstargroup.com

SOUTHERN STAR GROUP LIMITED MAY 1999 Southern Star is actively seeking to expand its distribution operations to further strengthen its role as a multinational supplier of television programming. The company is also continuing to diversify its production activities, not olny within Australia and the UK, but also by increasing its involvement in key international co-productions. Southern Star has grown in 25 years to be Australia's largest producer of television programming and the 10th largest English language film and television library in the world. In 1997 Southern Star acquired the UK based television company, Circle Communications, including its distributiuon arm, Pavilion. In 1998 Southern Star acquired a second UK based company - Primetime - a television distribution company with a significant catalogue of English language programming. The libraries of Pavilion and Primetime have now been integrated into Southern Star Sales, the Australian based sales and distribution division of Souhtern Star Group.

Thank you for your enquiry but unfortunately Southern Star does not hold the rights for DVD and video, these are retained by the Enid Blyton Estate (Chorion), please do not send any further requests regarding this to Southern Star but forward any queries for DVD or Videos to the Enid Blyton Estate (Chorion) as Southern Star cannot assist with these.

Kind Regards

Southern Star

Unfortunately, I have to advise you that Southern Star did not acquire German-speaking rights to these series. In any event, the copyright in these programmes has now reverted to "Portman Film & TV Ltd".

With kind regards

Kate Green
Sales Assistant to Veronique Verges
Southern Star International Ltd
12 Raddington Road
London W10 5TG
Tel: +44 (0)20 8968 2437
Fax +44 (0)20 8968 2412
email: kgreen@sstar.uk.com

Portman Film & TV Ltd

Portman sold its rights in this series of Famous Five in the early 90s. The TV rights are now held by "Southern Star" but as far as I know the Enid Blyton Estate (Chorion) has not renewed the video rights so I reckon you ought to push this request at Chorion.
Best wishes

Annie Protheroe
Portman Film & Television Ltd
21 - 25 St Anne's Court
London W1F 0BJ
Tel: 00 44 (0)20 7494 8024
Fax: 00 44 (0)20 7494 8046
e-mail: sales@portmanfilm.com
http://www.portmanfilm.com/

ILC Group Ltd

• Abenteuer Serie
• Verwegenen Vier Serie

Reel Corporation Australia Pty Ltd.

Dear Karli,

I am writing in response to your note.

1. Primetime was a U.K. based company that was acquired by Southern Star.
2. We acquired the rights to Famous Five through Primetime and subsequently re-licensed through Southern Star.
3. You are quite correct in that an error was made in the duplication where programmes from the earlier series were complied by mistake. This stock was withdrawn from the market and destroyed and replaced with the correct product.

Kind Regards,

Mark Butler
Chief Executive Officer
Reel Corporation Australia Pty Ltd
Studio 20, Waterview Bay Wharf
37 Nicholson Street, Balmain NSW 2041
Sydney, AUSTRALIA
email: m.butler@reelcorporation.com
p + 61 2 9555 9269
f + 61 2 9810 6993
m 0412 618 648
www.reeldvd.com.au

Chorion

Dear fans of the Famous Five in Germany and Austria,

I am finally able to respond to you all regarding the possibility of releasing a German-speaking DVD of the 1970s series of the Famous Five.

I’m afraid I have bad news. Chorion can categorically confirm that it does not hold the rights in this series, nor has it been able to identify who exactly does have the rights in this series. The Chorion legal team have invested a huge amount of time into investigating this matter and have been very thorough. We have identified that it was originally produced by the Portman Group under license from Family Film AG and Copyright Promotions (who, in turn, jointly acquired the rights from Darrell Waters Limited). We understand that Family Film AG became part of the Portman Group which is, we understand, now part of the Zenith Group. However, it is impossible for Chorion to identify whether the rights in this series were passed on from Family Film AG to the Portman Group, or from the Portman Group to Zenith. Please remember that this series was produced 30 years ago and that the initial production company no longer exists.

Chorion has dedicated a large amount of resource to this matter. We can go no further in our investigations. I therefore have to confirm to you all that we will no longer be looking into this, and that I will no longer be able to respond to any emails from fans on this issue.

I’m very sorry that Chorion has not been able to help you further. We have tried very hard to get to the bottom of the ownership issue, but despite our best efforts it is impossible to identify where the rights now lie. Please believe that we have been highly impressed with your level of devotion to the Famous Five and are sad that we haven’t been able to get the DVD to you.

Thank you for understanding our position.

Kind regards,

Esra

_________________________
Esra Cafer
Content Development Manager

Direct line: +44 20 7061 3856

Chorion PLC
4th Floor Aldwych House
81 Aldwych
London WC2B 4HN

Dear Esra,

Thank you very much for your reply and investigations concerning the old "Famous Five" TV series 1978/79.
Your news did not shock me so much because I also came to this fact a few months ago.
Because:
Indeed the film rights lie nowadays with "Southern Star Group", Australia.

Why that:
In 1982 "Southern Television" and its film archive was sold to "Primetime", UK.
In 1998 "Primetime", UK and its film archive was acquired by "Southern Star", AU.
In 1999 "Southern Star" licensed a VHS video release of the 1978/79 TV series to the English media company "ILC".

http://www.ilcdvd.com/


ILC Group Ltd
The Props Building Pinewood
Studios Pinewood Road
Iver Heath
Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH
Great Britain

"ILC" released indeed in 1999 the 1978/79 "Famous Five" episodes on VHS tapes.
So to speak the rights are not lost. They lie with "Southern Star", AU.

"Southern Star", Australia, wrote me in January 2006 that the rights lie indeed still with them! They just have no plans to release this series on DVD, because there has been no demand on this old TV series since a few years and because the handling seems a little difficult since the Blyton film rights reverted to Chorion in 2003.

I hope you will still get in touch with Mrs. Payne, Southern Star, Australia and to talk about the German-speaking desire of a DVD release through the DVD company "e-m-s new media AG", Germany.

Here the contact address of Mrs. Payne:
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SOUTHERN STAR SALES
Southern Star International - Sydney office
Cathy Payne
Phone: +612 9202 8508
Email: cpayne@sstar.com.au

Hoping to get a reply from you I send you all best wishes from Austria!

Karl

P.s.: It was very nice to have met Mrs Pam Ally on the Enid Blyton Day 2006 in Twyford!
Please convey my best greetings to Pam!!!

Dear Pam,

First of all I thank you for your help concerning the search of the rights of the old „Famous Five“ 1978/79 TV series and for having passed on my information to Esra.

Today I got a somewhat disappointing message of Esra that Chorion will no longer be looking into this.

I really can understand that because Chorion has dedicated a large amount of resource to this matter.

Well, for me it was right at the beginning clear that neither Portman nor Zenith holds the rights of this TV series.

Of course this series was produced 30 years ago and the initial production company no longer exits. But did Chorion ever contact “Southern Star”, Australia, who is indeed the owner of the series? In 1999 “Southern Star” Australia licensed this series to the media company “ILC” for a VHS video release (please see attached Word file: Information)

Why Chorion does not get in touch with “Southern Star”, Australia and “ILC”, UK?

It is just a few years ago that the copyright concerning “The Famous Five” 1978/79 TV series was sill clear because of the official VHS video release of the “ILC” company in 1999.

I kindly request you to speak once more again with Esra to get yet still in touch with “Southern Star” and “ILC”.

I am sure this is the solution of this never-ending puzzle!

Thank you very much for your attention and your help.

All best wishes from Austria,

Karl.

Und noch einmal Chorion

Complaint

To Mr. Nicholas James, Chief Executive

Dear Nicholas James,

As we told Mrs. Cafer in our last email, not only the German-speaking but also the other European fans of the old 1978/79 "Famous Five" TV series are so much disappointed about Chorion's last message which Mrs. Cafer wrote to them. We get hundreds of fan emails a week from all over Europe!!!

It is no more a question of searching the rights in that TV series. Indeed they lie with Southern Star. They also own the master tapes of that TV series and now, due a lot of fan requests, they are at least also willed to revive "their" Famous Five 1978/79 TV series by a DVD edition.

We hope that Chorion will change its point of view and renew the home video licence, so that Southern Star can exploit the old 1978/79 "Famous Five" TV series for home video and DVD releases.

Don´t you think that Chorion lead all the fans astray in telling (citation):

Chorion can categorically confirm that it does not hold the rights in this series, nor has it been able to identify who exactly does have the rights in this series. The Chorion legal team have invested a huge amount of time into investigating this matter and have been very thorough.

The rights lie without any doubt with Southern Star as you can plainly see:

Dear Karl,

Cathy Payne has referred your email regarding The Famous Five to myself, I handle all home video and DVD rights for the Southern Star catalogue in Europe.

Whilst Southern Star own the television and video rights to the 1970's series of FAMOUS FIVE in perpetuity, the video rights are subject to a license from the Enid Blyton Estate. Our license to exploit the home video (and DVD) rights expired in 2003 and we've been trying since then to renew the license to exploit these rights.

Chorion (on behalf of the Estate) said that they did not want to renew the license for the time being as they wanted to keep these rights out of the marketplace at the moment, and they were reviewing the brand position.

We have contacted them several times since then (and again last week) to see if their position has changed.

Should their position change and the rights are approved for exploitation I can assure you that I will be speaking with distributors throughout Europe to have this series released.

Very kind regards
Kirsten Cargill
kcargill@sstar.uk.com

Sales Executive - Video & Licensing
Southern Star International
A Southern Cross Broadcasting Company

We think the turn is now up to Chorion again.
We hope that after this long and unnecessary odyssey, we all went through, that Chorion will relent in this matter and will support to bring this old, much-loved TV series back to the European TV screens!

For the moment we can promise you that we try our best to prevent all the fans from writing letters or emails of complaint to Chorion because of its misdirection concerning the search for the rights.

We hope that you will stay in touch leastwise with us, the "Famous Five Fanpage Team" and inform us about good news.

All best wishes from very hot and football watching Austria and Germany,
Where ever there's adventure to be found...

Karli and Felix

- Webmaster Fünf-Freunde-Fanpage Famous Five Fanpage -
http://ff5.lgfb.de

e-m-s new media AG

NDR

Sehr geehrter Herr H...

erst einmal: ganz herzlichen Dank für ihr interesse an unserem Programm. Und vielen Dank für ihre Anregung, sie Serie, Fünf Freunde auszustrahlen, die ich gern weiterleite.
Allerdings hat der NDR keinerlei Rechte an der Serie, zuletzt wurde sie im ZDF und auf Super RTL gesendet. Vielleicht kann man ihnen dort weiter helfen. Meine Internet-Recherchen haben ergeben, dass wohl eine englische DVD auf dem Markt erhältlich ist, die Rechte für eine Fernsehwiederholung allerdings schwierig zu klären sind. Bei Interesse könnten sie die Fanpage http://ff5.lgfb.de aufrufen, um mehr zu erfahren.

Aufruf an ALLE Fans der "Fünf Freunde" 1978/79 TV-Serie

Dear Mr Nicholas James,

A year ago your company promised me the renewal of the video rights in the old " Famous Five" 1978/79 TV cult series, so that a multilingual DVD edition could at last be released.

Unfortunately nothing has happened until now and all your promises have not been kept. In my view the way Chorion handles its faithful Enid Blyton "Famous Five" fans is entirely unfair.

As a diehard of Enid Blyton's "Famous Five", I wish to draw your attention one again to this pressing matter:

Please see to the renewal of the "FamousFive" 1978/79 TV cult series video rights, so that I finally I can at last purchase its multilingual DVD edition.

Your name
Address
Email

Sehr geehrter Herr Nicholas James,

Seit einem Jahr versprechen Sie mir, die Videorechte an der alten "Fünf Freunde" TV-Kultserie von 1978/79 zu erneuern, sodass endlich eine DVD Edition erscheinen kann.
Es hat sich bis heute leider nichts geändert und Ihre Versprechungen waren nur leere. Ich finde es absolut unfair, was Chorion mit seinen treuen Enid Blyton "Fünf Freunde" Fans treibt.

Ich, als begeisterter "Fünf Freunde" Fan, ersuche Sie nochmals um eine dringliche Sache:

Bitte erneuern Sie doch endlich die Videorechte an der „Fünf Freunde” 1978/79 TV-Kult Serie, damit ich mir endlich eine mehrsprachige DVD-Edition davon kaufen kann.


Dein Name
Adresse
E-mail

Invocation to ALL Fans of the "Famous Five" TV-Serie of 1978/79

Llamamiento a TODOS los fans de la serie de TV de 1978/79 "Los Cinco"

Appel à TOUS les fans de la série TV 1978/79 "Le Club des Cinq"

Appello a TUTTI i fan della serie TV "La Banda dei Cinque" del 1978/79

Oproep aan ALLE fans van de "De Vijf" 1978/79 tv-serie

קריאה לכל אוהדי סדרת הטלביזיה "החמישיה הסודית" מ-1978/79

Chorion Chef nimmt Stellung

Dear Karl,

As I'm sure you are aware, I have recently received several emails from Famous Five fans in Germany who are frustrated at the length of time it is taking to give you any news about the 1970s Famous Five series being made available on DVD for fans to enjoy. I am sending our response to you directly, and I hope you will not mind posting it on your website, or forwarding it on to all the other fans so that they receive it. Thank you.

First of all, I want to sincerely thank you all for your continued interest in the Famous Five brand. It is heartening to see your loyalty and passion for the Famous Five and I only hope we can inspire a similar fan base for the new Famous Five show amongst children of today. Chorion are very aware of your desire to enjoy the 1970s series again on DVD and I want to assure you that we are doing all we can to make that happen.

When Chorion acquired Enid Blyton Ltd in 1996, we inherited the rights positions that the previous owner (the Blyton family) had entered into over the years. The television and film rights position we inherited for the 1970s series specifies that these rights can only be exercised with the agreement of the producer and the owner. This means that nothing can happen to these rights without the agreement of both the television company and Chorion.

Our legal team is, and has been for several months, working very hard to ascertain exactly where the rights to the TV show lie so that we can clear them for video release. The rights have changed hands several times over the last 30 years, as the original television company was bought by another company and this has happened several more times since, making the rights status complicated and difficult to trace. I cannot share details with you as we are in legal negotiations and cannot make these details public. I cannot say how much longer this will take, however, we are committed to resolving this and I believe we are making progress.

When we have some news that we can share, please believe that we will certainly do so. Until then, we will continue to focus our attentions on clearing these rights so that you can all enjoy this series again.

Kind regards,
Nicholas James
Chief Executive

Lieber Karl,

wie Sie sicherlich wissen, habe ich neulich mehrere E-Mails von enttäuschten Fünf Freunde-Fans aus Deutschland bekommen, welche seit langem auf die Nachricht warten, dass die in den 1970ern produzierte Serie Fünf Freunde auf DVD endlich zur Verfügung steht.
Ich sende unsere Rückmeldung direkt an Sie und hoffe, dass Sie diese auf Ihrer Webseite veröffentlichen, oder sie an alle anderen Fans weiterleiten werden, so dass auch diese die Antwort erhalten. Vielen Dank.

Zuallererst möchte ich mich aufrichtig bei Ihnen für Ihr fortwährendes Interesse an der Serie Fünf Freunde bedanken. Es ist ermutigend, Ihre Loyalität und Leidenschaft für die Fünf Freunde zu sehen, und ich hoffe, dass wir eine ähnliche Fangemeinde unter den heutigen Kindern für die neuen Fünf Freunde begeistern können. Chorion hat sehr wohl Kenntnis von Ihrem Wunsch, die 1970er Serie wieder auf DVD genießen zu können und ich möchte Ihnen versichern, dass wir alles unternehmen, um das zu ermöglichen.

Als Chorion im Jahre 1996 Enid Blyton Ltd. erworben hat, übernahmen wir die Rechtspositionen, die über die Jahre in den Besitz des vorherigen Eigentümers (die Blyton Familie) übergegangen waren. Die Position der Fernseh- und Filmrechte, die wir für die 1970er Serie übernommen haben, spezifizieren, dass diese Rechte nur mit der Zustimmung des Produzenten und des Besitzers ausgeübt werden können. Damit ist gemeint, dass hinsichtlich dieser Rechte ohne Zustimmung sowohl des Fernsehunternehmens als auch Chorions nichts unternommen werden kann.

Unsere Rechtsexperten arbeiten bereits seit mehreren Monaten sehr intensiv daran, einwandfrei festzustellen, wer die Rechte an der TV Serie besitzt, um diese für die Videofreigabe zu klären. Die Rechte haben innerhalb der letzten 30 Jahre mehrmals den Besitzer gewechselt, da die originale Fernsehgesellschaft von einem anderen Unternehmen, was seitdem mehrere Male passiert ist, übernommen wurde und was die Klärung des rechtlichen Status erschwert sowie die Nachvollziehung dieser Umstände verkompliziert hat. Ich kann Ihnen keine Details nennen, da wir uns in Rechtsverhandlungen befinden und Details auch nicht veröffentlichen können. Ich kann nicht sagen, wie viel Zeit dadurch noch in Anspruch genommen wird, aber wir setzen uns für eine Lösung dieses Problems ein und ich glaube, dass wir bereits Fortschritte erzielen.

Sobald wir über neue Informationen verfügen, so seien Sie versichert, dass wir Sie umgehend daran teilhaben lassen werden. Bis dahin werden wir fortfahren, unsere Aufmerksamkeit auf die Klärung dieser Rechte zu fokussieren, sodass Sie alle sich wieder an dieser Serie erfreuen können.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Nicholas James
Chief Executive

Nachtrag

"I hope you're well. As always, it's nice to hear from you and be reminded of people with determination and love for the Famous Five!
We have made some progress, but the end is still not quite in sight. We are expecting some legal papers to be sent to us in the next few weeks which SHOULD clarify the ownership position once and for all. Once that's done, we will be able to start commercial negotiations to clear the rights... It's hard to say how long that could take.
So, you can see that there's still a long way to go but we're not giving up!
Even though our progress is slow, things are moving forward.
Why don't you get in touch with me again in October to touch base? Hopefully I should have more news by then..."

I hope you're well? It's good to hear from you again.
I caught up with my colleague in legal the other day. The situation is still the same - we're waiting for the receivers of this company to send us the documents that show "chain of title". We've already agreed some basic terms with them so that, as soon as we have this, we can do a quick deal - but the receivers aren't in any mood to hurry, so we just keep chasing them!
But, seriously, we do keep chasing them. It's become a mini mission for us as well to get this sorted after all this time.
My legal colleague just chased the receivers again - fingers crossed!

Yes, we are still (slowly but surely) progressing with this and while it's enormously complicated, I believe we are starting to unravel it. I've asked for an update and also asked my boss to do what he can. I'll keep in touch.

Thank you for your email and I'm sorry about the delay in replying, I had assumed you'd been in touch with Esra. Nicholas James is no longer with Chorion, having departed last year to pursue other interests. I have spoken to our legal department and they tell me that we are still in the same situation as we were when we were last in touch regarding the DVD rights for the Famous Five series.
Rest assured that we are as keen as all the Famous Five fans out there to resolve this situation, but I am not able to give you any details other than to say we are still working on it and we'll let you know as soon we do.
We'll be in touch if anything changes.

Since my childhood I am a fan of the 1978/79 TV cult series "Famous Five" and I am very disappointed that it takes such a long time to reach clarification of the DVD rights.
I have no idea how long such a lawsuit still can last, but the 30th Anniversary of that TV-series is just around the corner and no DVD collection is within sight.
Isn't there any possibility to speedup the legal matter?

As a diehard of Enid Blyton's "Famous Five 1978/79", I wish to draw your attention once again to this pressing matter:

Please see to the renewal of the "Famous Five" 1978/79 TV cult series DVD rights, so that I finally can purchase its multilingual "30th Anniversary" DVD collection as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Chorion bekennt nach 3 Jahren Vertröstung endlich Farbe!

I've discussed the situation at length with our Director of Legal and here is our response. I'm sorry to say that it isn't good news...

After all our extensive investigations into this, this is our legal position:

• Chorion didn't produce this series and doesn't own any rights in it (so, in legal terms, we have no greater connection to the 1978/9 Famous Five series than we would to a series of Doctor Who).
• To release a DVD of the series we have to find out who owns the DVD rights in the series and then buy those rights from them.
• We have identified two companies who potentially have the television and video rights to the series but, sadly, neither company can produce any contractual proof of this position.
• This leaves us unable to take the matter forward. The real problem here is that the company who originally held the video rights no longer exists, and the rights they held have passed through so many hands in the last three decades, that the paper trail is inconclusive.

I'm sorry to say that this leaves Chorion with our hands tied. Without being able to identify where these rights lie, we cannot acquire them and so cannot release the DVD. I know that's frustrating for you to hear-it's frustrating for all of us here at Chorion as well! As I hope you know, myself and several of my legal colleagues have worked really hard to acquire the DVD rights to this series, so that we could release it for you and all the other fans that desperately want to enjoy it again. We have put a lot of investment (both in terms of man hours and money) into it over the last 12-18 months. After all that time and effort, I'm afraid we can't see any way of moving forward now. In short, we've reached a dead end. There's nothing more that we can do.

You know how much I respect and admire the enormous and sustained effort that you, and the other Famous Five fans, have made in trying to get these DVDs released. It's wonderful to see the love and commitment you feel towards this show and the Famous Five brand. I salute you! I'm really sorry we haven't been able to make it happen.

Will you pass this on to the other fans? Please tell them we share their disappointment.

All the best to you.Take care.

Best,

Esra
_________________________

Esra Cafer
Senior Manager, Brand Development

Direct line: +44 20 7061 3856

Chorion Ltd.
4th Floor Aldwych House
81 Aldwych
London WC2B 4HN

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