In April 1998, Scottish formed a new partnership with Canadian entertainment company Nelvana and American TV network CBS to produce six new animated series, with Scottish having a significant creative input in the production of all their shows. Scottish Television Enterprises general manager Darrel James, who oversaw the deal, said: " came together in a surprisingly short time. We have worked very successfully with Nelvana on the Rupert series in the past. So when they came and asked us if we wanted to get involved, we said 'yes' almost immediately. It is not often that you get the opportunity to work on such a high volume of co-produced material at one time." The new shows produced were "Franklin", "Anatole", "The Dumb Bunnies", "Flying Rhino Junior High", "" and "Birdz". In November, Scottish doubled the funding for children's programming.