MUMBAI: For a few years now, animated shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, have entertained the young viewers almost across the world. Now, many such popular Nickelodeon children's programs will be dubbed into Mandarin and available to watch free online in China over the next 12 months in the latest deal to give a foreign entertainment company more access to China’s vast market.

Sohu Video, a unit of popular Chinese Web portal Sohu.com, recently announced an online video-on-demand and video syndication collaboration in China with Viacom International Media Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc.

The government in China restricts foreign access to the country’s television audience and bars most of its cable operators from carrying foreign channels. However, it’s the online video platforms that give the audience an access to foreign productions.

In a joint statement, the companies said the deal will enable an estimated 389 million Chinese online video users to watch Mandarin-dubbed and subtitled Nickelodeon programming on Sohu’s site, however the details of the deal hasn’t been revealed.

Sohu Video started offering more than 200 hours of Nickelodeon programming, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Avatar Sunday onwards.

Sohu’s video site is populated with American TV shows, Japanese animation series, Chinese variety shows and in-house programs. It obtained the exclusive online broadcast rights for the second season of hit reality talent show The Voice of China, shown earlier this year, generating nearly 2 billion video views, according to Sohu.