Hulu Gains HBO Content for Japan

TOKYO: Hulu has scored HBO programming, including Sex and the City and The Sopranos, for its Japanese service, which has increased its content offering by more than 300 percent since its September 2011 launch.

Select HBO shows are currently available for subscribers in Japan, with additional series, including Entourage and Band of Brothers, to come later this year. The deal with HBO follows on a pact secured earlier this month that brings seasons one through three of Mad Men to the Hulu service in Japan through a partnership with Pony Canyon.

In a blog post, Hulu stated that there are now more than 800 films and 6,900 TV episodes available on its Japanese service from 24 content providers. It also noted that it has expanded the number of Hulu-enabled, Internet-connected devices in the market; there are currently more than 29 million Hulu-enabled devices in Japan.

"While it is early days for our first international market, we have been extremely pleased by the warm welcome we have received to date," the blog post stated. "Our service has clearly struck a chord with Japanese consumers, and we are excited about adding more great content and additional distribution partners to further increase its appeal. We are grateful to our content partners and subscribers who have been instrumental to our growth and we will continue to innovate the Hulu service on behalf of all our customers."