Corus Races for Cinar Goodies.

Cartoons will be plentiful at Toronto-based Corus Entertainment if they decide to bid for Cinar Corp.'s library, which includes such animated favorites as Arthur and Paddington Bear. If acquired, the children's programming will be added to YTV, Treehouse and Teletoon's slates. Cinar's 2,000 hours of programming have an estimated worth of C$200 million.

In an effort to increase their library and distribute as many programs as possible outside of Canada, Corus' decision whether or not to buy Cinar's assets is integral to its reputation. With such popular kids' hits, if Corus decides to bid, companies around the world will take notice.

In September 2000, Corus obtained Nelvana Inc., securing shows like Franklin and Babar for its programming shelf. The possible addition of Cinar's shows will award Corus with a 20 percent stake in Teletoon, increasing cable channel ownership to 60 percent.

Cinar has been seeking a buyer since allegations emerged that chief financial officer Hasanain Panju invested $122 million of Cinar's money sans board approval. This led to the resignation of the company's former head execs Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg.

The date of Cinar's sale had not been revealed as of press time.