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Deals: Portfolio, Quebecor, OUTtv
Portfolio Entertainment has signed its first deal with Chinese VOD iQiYi, Quebecor Content picks up five series for Club illico, plus more deals.
By Regan Reid
Toronto's Portfolio Entertainment has signed its first deal with Chinese VOD service iQiYi, which has picked up the prodco's The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! (pictured, 60 x 30 mins) and Doki (26 x 30 mins). The shows will be dubbed into Mandarin and subtitled in English for the platform. iQiYi claimed to have 20 million paid subscribers as of last year. Its mobile version, meanwhile, has grown to become the most-used online video app in China, active on 120 million devices daily.
Quebecor Content has picked up broadcast rights to five series for its streaming service Club illico, including MGM Television's The Handmaid's Tale. While exact premiere dates have yet to be set, Quebecor Content said the Hulu original will premiere on the service "shortly," alongside Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams (Sony), which stars Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Canada's own Rachelle Lefevre (Under the Dome). Also joining the service are military-focused Valor (CBS Television Studios), Australian action-adventure series Nowhere Boys (NBCUniversal), and FBI drama Absentia (Sony).
OUTtv
LGBTQ-focused network OUTtv has acquired three seasons of the dating show Mom vs Matchmaker. Produced by Toronto-based Go Button Media, season one (6 x 30 mins) and season two (12 x 30 mins) of the matchmaking series will air later this year on OUTtv. Season three (12 x 30 mins) has been commissioned to air in 2018. In Mom vs Matchmaker, professional matchmaker Carmelia Ray goes head-to-head with an opinionated mom to see who can pick and train the most suitable suitor for the mother's child. Only one –mother or matchmaker – can make the winning match.
With files from Kidscreen, Realscreen
iQiYi, OUTtv, Portfolio Entertainment, Quebecor Content
Photo Gallery: 2020 TFCA Gala - Former TIFF head Piers Handling with former TIFF executive director and COO Michele Maheux, recipient of the 2019 Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award.