Winx Club is an Italian animated television series directed, created and produced by Iginio Straffi[2] and his company Rainbow S.r.l. in co-production with Rai Fiction.[3][4]
It aired on Rai 2 in Italy from 28 January 2004, while for the sixth season was moved to Rai Gulp in 2014. The series is one of the first Italian cartoons to be sold in the United States (preceded by series such as La Linea);[3][5] it was first licensed and dubbed into English by 4Kids Entertainment, and aired on Fox's programming block 4Kids TV (formerly FoxBox) beginning on June 19, 2004. Reruns of the series aired on Cartoon Network in 2005, and on CW4kids in 2009. RAI also created an English dub for the first four seasons recording by Cinelume in Montreal.
After 4Kids' license for the series was relinquished, Nickelodeon acquired the rights and produced a new English dub, which aired as of June 27, 2011, beginning with four-one hour specials summarizing seasons one and two. The seventh season aired on Nickelodeon in the UK from 4 July 2015 and on Nick Jr. in the U.S from 10 January 2016, with a new dub by DuArt Film and Video.
The series is also broadcast in over 150 countries worldwide,[2][6] and is Straffi's most successful creation.[2] Its continuing popularity spawned a Winx Club media franchise, which also consists of toys, books, video games, clothing, three CGI feature-length films, two spin-off programs, and an upcoming live-action movie.
