Angry Birds cartoons head for TV screens

Angry Birds balloons are seen as people run during Car Free Day at the main street in Jakarta July 8, 2012.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The makers of Angry Birds are launching a cartoon series this weekend, expanding further beyond its highly addictive games in a bid to expand entertainment and merchandising.

Rovio, the company behind the popular mobile app game Angry Birds, said the cartoons will feature adventures of birds that appear in its games.

Angry Birds Toons can be downloaded through on-demand services, and will also air on television channels such as FOX8 in Australia, ANTV in Indonesia, Cartoon Network in India, and MTV3 Juniori and MTV3 in Finland, it said.

Rovio has expanded into merchandising and licensing in the past few years and its colourful, round bird characters are sold as stuffed animals and appear on everything from T-shirts to soda cans.

It announced in December that it hired Hollywood executive David Maisel as executive producer of a 3D animated film planned for release in 2016.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando, editing by Paul Casciato)