with high-end HDTV production facilities and one of the largest green screens in the world. The production floor area is 1,800 square meters. The budget for each episode was approximately ISK 70,000,000 (US$1 million), about five times the average cost for a children's television program at the time, making it "the most expensive children's show in the world" according to Scheving. Its virtual sets were generated with an Unreal Engine 3-based framework, created by Raymond P. Le Gué and known as XRGen4. According to Le Gué, "We start with the live actors and puppets on a physical set with a green screen behind them as a backdrop. The green screen is replaced in real time with the sets created in XRGen4 using UE3. As we move the camera and actors around the physical set, the backdrop scene also moves in real time in complete synchronization with the movements of the real camera. All of this is recorded, and the director can watch the resulting composition in real time." Seasons 3 and 4 of LazyTown were filmed as usual in the LazyTown Studios in Iceland, but the special effects were created this time around by Turner Studios in Atlanta. Television and on-demand history In the United States, the show debuted on Nick Jr. on 16 August 2004 and ended in 15 October 2007. The second season debuted in the United States on Nick Jr. in 2006. It also aired in the United States on CBS, as part of the Nick Jr. on CBS Saturday morning block, from 18 September 2004 to 9 September 2006. The series aired daily on the Nick Jr. channel from 28 September 2009 until 19 July 2010. On 18 April 2011, Sprout acquired the US TV rights to LazyTown, and started airing the series on 5 September 2011. It aired daily on the channel until 26 September 2016. The series has been broadcast on a variety of networks internationally, many of which belong to Viacom Media Networks. Nickelodeon Southeast Asia has carried the program in eleven territories. In Austria and Germany, it is shown on Nickelodeon Austria In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it aired on Nick Jr. UK, Noggin, Boomerang and CBeebies. The series arrived in the UK on the 3rd of October 2005, making a simultaneous debut on both Nickelodeon and CBeebies. CBeebies aired the first two series and stopped repeats in March 2012. Nick