Postman Pat comes to HBO.

HBO has acquired the U.S. pay television rights to Postman Pat, the hit U.K. family series from Entertainment Rights PLC ("ER"), it was announced jointly today by both companies. To be presented daily on HBO Family beginning in fall 2005, the 26 half-hour installments of the series will be available in both English and Spanish. Postman Pat is an animated children's series that follows the activities of the neighborhood postman, depicting life in a close-knit, unhurried rural community.

A national hit in the U.K., Postman Pat has been running continuously on the BBC since its 1981 debut, despite the fact that only 52 15-minute episodes were originally produced. The latest episodes of Postman Pat launched on the BBC in September 2004, attracting 25 million viewers in just six weeks. The show's website draws more than a million hits per month, while 15 million Postman Pat books have been sold worldwide to date and more than 2.5 million videos have been sold in the U.K. alone. Internationally, Postman Pat is viewed in more than 100 countries.