9 Story Brands, part of Toronto-headquartered 9 Story Media Group, has granted Random House Children’s Books the publishing rights to its 2D-animated preschool comedy Lu & The Bally Bunch (pictured).

Two lead licensed titles — Color and Play with Lu & The Bally Bunch and Bug Hugs — will launch on July 8, and future formats planned for spring 2026 will include hardcover picture books, five-minute story collections, coloring and activity sets and eBooks.

Produced by 9 Story Studio’s Brown Bag Films with the participation of Warner Bros. Discovery and CBC Kids, the 75 x 7-minute series was created by Nicky Phelan (Vampirina), who also directed the series. It originally premiered in April of 2023 on Cartoonito in the U.K. and Latin America and CBC Kids in Canada.

Spin Master

Expanding the content universe of Unicorn Academy, Netflix has ordered a pair of specials to serve up with Spin Master’s CG-animated fantasy series.

The 60-minute Legendary Summer will join the streamer’s lineup on April 9, with the 44-minute Winter Solstice dropping on Nov. 6. Unicorn Academy scored more than 18 million views in the second half of 2024, as per the latest Netflix engagement report.

Fubo

Sports-focused streaming platform Fubo has made an agreement with Toronto-based Channel Zero to carry CHCH.TV on the platform.

Announced Feb. 27, this brings programming from the Hamilton, Ont.-based channel onto Fubo, including its original news coverage.

“CHCH has been a part of Canadian households for decades, and today’s partnership with Fubo is another step in reaching more Canadians where they are in today’s streaming era,” said Cal Millar, Channel Zero president and COO, in a statement.

Fubo is available on Amazon Fire TV, Android, GoogleTV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Hisense, iOS, LG TV, Roku, Samsung and Xbox One.

Thema, Roku

Canal+ company Thema has struck a deal with the Roku Channel to curate several new international series for Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico.

In Canada, this includes four Korean series from KT Studio Genie: Unlock my Boss, Battle for Happiness, Summer Strike and Evili.

The deal also includes two original Burmese-language productions from Canal+ Myanmar, Crying Forest and the first two seasons of Toxic; as well as two Vietnamese-language Canal+ productions, Scarlet Hill and Hellbound Village.

Lastly, the deal includes the Hindi-language, cricket-focused Indiacast title, Dhawan Kharenge.

With files from Kidscreen

Image courtesy of 9 Story Media Group