Corus Entertainment-owned Nelvana Enterprises has entered into a significant content acquisition and merchandising rep deal for China with the country’s Ciwen Media Group.

Ciwen now holds exclusive distribution and licensing rights in Mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong to more than 1,000 half-hours of Nelvana’s animated and live-action kid-targeted programming, including animated series Franklin, Babar (pictured) and 6Teen.

Arguably one of the largest deals for Western properties in China, Ciwen is now charged with placing shows from the Nelvana library on free-TV, cable and satellite broadcasters in its territories. The company will also oversee the dubbing of the programs into Mandarin and other relevant languages.

Ciwen is also looking after consumer products licensing for Nelvana brands in the aforementioned territories and will look to build the brands and related licensing programs across toys, apparel, digital media, digital publishing and themed entertainment.