Canada’s DHX Media has secured deals with Chinese digital video platforms iQIYI and Youku, as well Hong Kong-based brand facilitator Promotional Partners Worldwide (PPW), for its revamped Teletubbies property.

Beginning June 1, iQIYI and Youku will each stream the first season of the popular preschool series through their subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services. The platforms will both launch season two at a later date.

iQIYI, which claims to be China’s largest internet and mobile video service provider with more than 20 million paid subscribers, has been ramping up its kids portfolio, having signed a deal with BBW Worldwide in February that made CBeebies content available to a digital platform in China for the first time.

Youku, meanwhile, is currently available across 580 million monthly active devices in China. It’s also a co-producer on Emmy & Gooroo, a new preschool series from China’s Left Pocket Studio and Spain’s Tomavision. 

On the licensing front, DHX Brands has named PPW as licensing agent for the new Teletubbies IP in China. With the help of PPW, which reps top children’s brands including Peppa Pig, Chuggington and Smurfs, DHX Brands can potentially leverage China’s mainland population of approximately 226 million children under the age of 14.

The deal follows the recent appointment of Candy Ho as DHX Brands’ business development director for Asia. To date, DHX Brands has secured more than 85 merchandising deals for the Teletubbies global consumer products program.

As for DHX Media’s growth across digital and linear services in China, the company has licensed more than 9,700 half-hours of content leveraging more than 2,500 half-hours of Mandarin-dubbed content in its library.

Excluding China, the new Teletubbies series has been snapped up by 24 broadcasters worldwide including KiKA (Germany), Nick Jr. (US), Family Jr. (Canada), Gulli (France), ABC Kids (Australia), TVE (Spain), CBeebies (Africa, Asia and Poland), as well as Amazon Prime Video in the UK.

UK production company Darrall Macqueen was commissioned in 2015 by DHX and original commissioning broadcaster CBeebies to create 60 new episodes of the show.