HBO forms Chinese alliance

HBO shows such as Game of Thrones and True Detective could be made available to China’s huge online audience after the US premium cablenet formed a partnership with online giant Tencent.

The deal is part of the Time Warner-owned broadcaster’s attempts to counter piracy in China and will provide its shows to hundreds of millions of Tencent users.

Tencent will become the exclusive online platform for HBO in China, with shows including Boardwalk Empire set to be offered to users via PCs and mobile devices, although a launch date has not been set.

Financial details have not been revealed but the companies said content would become available “in the near future,” subject to shows being approved by the Chinese government, which said in September that all foreign series must get official approval before being made available online.

Chinese broadcaster CCTV has previously shown a censored version of Game of Thrones on its network, but other series such as The Big Bang Theory and NCIS have been taken down from online sites.

Martin Lau, Tencent’s president, said: “This partnership enables us to distribute some of the most groundbreaking programming in the world through our robust technology platform, to the benefit of Chinese internet users.”

HBO’s move follows a similar deal between Lions Gate Entertainment and Chinese online giant Alibaba Group, which will make the US firm’s shows available via a set-top box in China.