Tencent to air HBO in mainland as gov’t shuts down free sites

Tencent Holdings Ltd., controlled by China’s third-richest man Ma Huateng, has won exclusive rights to air HBO content online in China.
The agreement between Tencent and Time Warner Inc.’s HBO comes as the Chinese government shuts down popular websites including Yyets.com and Shooter.cn that broadcast HBO series and other dramas for free to China’s 632 million Internet users.
Tencent will show programs including “Game of Thrones,” “Band of Brothers,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “True Detective.” It didn’t provide financial details or broadcast schedules, or mention whether users will be charged to watch them.
“This partnership enables us to distribute some of the most ground-breaking programming in the world through our robust technology platform, to the benefit of Chinese Internet users,” Martin Lau, president of Tencent, said in a statement.
Online video sites run by Sohu.com Inc. and Youku Tudou Inc. were ordered earlier this year to remove U.S. television shows including “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Good Wife” amid an official crackdown on “pornography”.
The Chinese government censors the Internet heavily, blocking websites including those of Facebook and Twitter and deleting postings on microblogging services like Weibo Corp. that it deems a threat to social stability.
It’s not known whether official censors will edit the shows on Tencent. Earlier this year, a pay-to-view channel run by China’s state broadcaster CCTV aired a cut version of “Game of Thrones.” Bloomberg