Japanese viewers get access to HBO via Hulu
HBO yesterday announced a deal in which Hulu in Japan (owned by Nippon TV subsidiary HJ Holdings) will have exclusive SVOD access to HBO’s content library.
Along with being able to access over 800 episodes from HBO’s content library, Japanese viewers will now be able to stream ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Silicon Valley.’
“We are very excited to be able to deliver HBO’s great line-up, which could be described as a treasure chest of US drama series, to Hulu’s viewers in Japan,” Kazufumi Nagasawa, Hulu in Japan’s Chief Content Officer, said in a statement. “Personally, I am very delighted to finally be able to watch ‘Silicon Valley’. We are committed to bringing to our subscribers in Japan the world’s greatest film and TV programming, which I am proud to say will now include hundreds of hours of HBO miniseries and series like ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘True Detective,’, and other hits.”
While Hulu and HBO are major competitors in the U.S., media companies are often willing to cooperate when it comes to international expansion. Hulu in Japan is well established but will greatly benefit from having HBO’s content; HBO will not have to expend resources on building a market from scratch (and eventually can if its content resonates).