Nickelodeon has signed a deal with Italian broadcaster Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI) to produce the first localized foreign-language version of “Blue’s Clues.” The show will premiere on the RAI UNO network in the second quarter of 1999. In Italy, RAI will localize the series by using the same blue-screen technology used on the original production to insert an Italian, live-action host into the existing computer animation. Nickelodeon plans to make similar sales to other countries, as this production concept was designed into the show from its inception. Read about the production process used on “Blue’s Clues” in the September 1998 issue of Animation World Magazine. . . . . NICKELODEON has signed a volume output deal with Television New Zealand (TVNZ) for the broadcast rights to 17 animated and live-action series--755 episodes in all--including “CatDog,” “Rugrats,” “Hey Arnold!,” “KABLAM!,” “Angry Beavers,” “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters,” “The Wild Thornberrys” and “Oh Yeah! Cartoons!” The deal extends into 2003.