HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment Limited

Logo from 2007 to present
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Entertainment
Genre	Children's programmes
Predecessor	Henson International Television
Founded	1983; 34 years ago (1983) (as Henson International Television) 1989 (1989) (as HiT Entertainment)
Founder	Peter Orton
Headquarters	London, England, U.K. New York City, New York, U.S.
Number of locations	3
Key people	Peter Orton
Production output	Television Production, Children's Animation, Production
Services	Distribution Licensing
Number of employees	188+
Parent	Mattel Creations (Mattel, Inc.)
Divisions	HiT Video Consumers Product Hit ToyCo
Subsidiaries	HIT Entertainment USA Inc. Ludgate 151 Ltd. Hot Animation Entermode Ltd. HIT Entertainment Canada Inc. Pingu BV
Website	hitentertainment.com

HIT Entertainment Ltd. (styled "HiT") is a British–American entertainment company owned by Mattel and originally established in 1983 from Henson International Television (formerly styled "hit!"). It was founded as the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions. HIT owns and distributes children's television series, including the shows Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Angelina Ballerina, and Mike the Knight.

In 1983, the Jim Henson Television company founded Henson International Television as a distribution company for their children's television.

Jim Henson Productions started negotiations with The Walt Disney Company regarding a possible purchase of the company in the late 1980s. Because of these negotiations, Henson International Television head Peter Orton led a management buyout of the Henson International Television division from Henson in 1989, forming a new company named HiT Entertainment.

HiT continued distributing programming by initially signing Postman Pat and Alvin & the Chipmunks series. The company then financed and distributed Wind in the Willows and the Peter Rabbit animated features. In 1990, Flextech took a 23% share in HiT for about £600,000. The HiT Wildlife division was soon set up to produce nature and wildlife programming which provided the company with 35% of its revenue by the mid-1990s.