Hodor! Game of Thrones comes to China as Tencent ties up with HBO

The battle for online viewers in China heated up again today with Tencent’s announcement of a tie-up with HBO. The deal will see a number of shows from the American subscription channel, such as Game of Thrones and The Newsroom, streamed in China. They’ll be available soon on the Tencent Video site.

All the violence, nudism, and sex scenes in Game of Thrones will make it tough to edit for approval in China. It will likely involve a number of cuts. A Tencent representative declined to comment on the record about this issue.

As with most of the licensed TV shows on China’s top video sites – like Youku, iQiyi, PPTV, and Tencent Video – the shows will be free to watch, supported by pre-roll advertising. Tencent Video also has a premium option that eliminates the ads.

Other HBO shows to hit China include Boardwalk Empire and True Detective.

China’s regulators keen to clamp down on foreign TV dramas

Tencent’s announcement is the latest of many such deals for licensed content among China’s leading video sites.

But the situation is made more complex by a looming crackdown on foreign TV dramas. In September, China’s media regulator, SAPPRFT, issued a notice that the country’s booming video streaming sites need to get licenses to stream overseas TV series. That might result in controversial or challenging series – especially ones with sex, violence, or political themes – being effectively banned. The new requirement comes into force in April 2015.

Many US and British series have proved to be smash hits with China’s young online viewers in recent years, particularly Prison Break, Sherlock, and The Big Bang Theory.

See: Xiaomi to invest $1 billion in content to make its smart TV more appealing

(Image credit: HBO)