Up to 100 million Chinese children a day may soon be watching wildlife television shows produced by a Dunedin company.
Executive producers from a major Chinese children's television network are in the city this week, negotiating with NHNZ to produce the shows.
NHNZ managing director Kyle Murdoch said five China Central Television (CCTV) producers were visiting the Dunedin facility to investigate one of NHNZ's shows, ZooMoo, for its CCTV Kids channel.
The show explores the animal world by using a cast of funny, furry characters to help 3 to 7-year-old children develop a knowledge and affection for animals, with the aim of fostering a lifelong love of conservation.
Mr Murdoch said ZooMoo was already being screened in about 20 territories worldwide, mainly in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
''We are looking at creating a partnership, a co-production, with CCTV Kids to create a learning programme for China.
''It's significant because CCTV Kids is a huge channel. Out of all of China's state-owned channels, CCTV Kids is the second-highest rating channel.
''We're talking during the summer holidays, when kids are off school ... they can get over 100 million children watching.''
Mr Murdoch said much of that programming would be voiced over in Mandarin before being sent to China.
However, a lot of new ZooMoo content would also be made by CCTV Kids producers in China, he said.
''That's really what this week is all about.
''The five executive producers are here to learn what makes ZooMoo a unique programme offering.''
Mr Murdoch declined to say how much the new deal would bring to the company. He said the CCTV visit was a good sign, because it showed NHNZ's ability to form partnerships with international clients was growing.
''Eventually, with more demand for this work, we're going to see more jobs created.
''Already, we've created a lot of jobs through ZooMoo that we didn't have previously two years ago.''
