Apple has purchased the rights to the beloved Peanuts characters. Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Spike, and more are all going on new adventures in the near future. Snoopy is even going to explore space and work with NASA, which is pretty awesome. Apple is partnering with DHX Media to bring Charles Schulz's characters to life in a variety of ways, right before the 2020 70th anniversary of the original comic strip. The characters have appeared in movies and one-off specials over the years, but we're about to get a steady flow of new material.

It was announced today that Apple and DHX Media struck a deal to work together. The partnership will be working closely with its subsidiary Peanuts Worldwide to develop and produce original programs. Some of which will be the aforementioned new shows and specials, as well as shorts based on the characters created by Charles M. Schultz. This is big news for Peanuts fans who have been waiting for new material and also wondering if anything was going to be done for the 70th anniversary.

The Peanuts material is all set to roll out for Apple's upcoming streaming platform. Details are scarce, but the tech giant is pumping millions of dollars into original content. It's believed that the service will roll out to over 100 countries upon its debut in the first half of next year. Apple will be going into direct competition with Netflix and Amazon Prime along with the Disney+ streaming platform, which is also set to debut next year, but in the later portion. Disney is pumping millions into original content too, which is sure to bring in a healthy amount of subscribers.

Apple has signed a huge deal with Oprah Winfrey to develop new shows, and has also ordered two new children's shows from Sesame Street creators. Additionally, they are working with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon on a drama about a morning show and a reboot of the anthology show Amazing Stories. Apple has a lot more ideas in development, which will soon see the light of day, but Peanuts has to be one of the better ideas that they have had going into this new venture.

There isn't an official launch date for Apple's streaming service or the new Peanuts material. However, it is believed that it will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the franchise in 2020. That gives DHX Media and Apple that time to fully develop the shows and specials in order to make them the best that they can be. It's going to be very interesting to see how Apple does in the streaming market with so much competition that has been at it for a lot longer. The same can be said for Disney at this time too. The Peanuts news was first reported by Deadline.