A+E Nets, Hulu In Japan Set Program Partnership

A+E Networks and HJ Holdings (Hulu in Japan) announced today a programming partnership bringing an extensive catalogue of A+E Networks’ award winning programming to the Japanese subscription video-on-demand service. 

Launching with global hits featured on The History Channel Japan such as Pawn Stars and Counting Cars, the programming will be made available to subscribers in an exclusive section of Hulu in Japan featuring A+E’s brands such as History, Lifetime, Crime and Investigation and FYI.  All of the content will be available in Japanese. 

The companies said in the coming months the partnership will expand to include select programming from the full portfolio of A+E Networks’ global brands, marking the first time the Japanese audience will be able to experience content from Lifetime, Crime and Investigation Network and FYI. 

“We are thrilled to bring our rich programing library to Hulu subscribers in Japan,” said Alan Hodges, managing director, Asia-Pacific, A+E Networks. “Hulu is one of the pioneer OTT organizations in Japan and is the perfect platform for introducing A+E’s rich catalogue to a Japanese audience that is hungry for high-end video on demand content.”

“We are excited to be a home for A+E’s great content line-up in Japan as we believe this deal is fruitful for both A+E and Hulu in Japan. We will be able to help A+E to further establish and promote their brand though our distinctive promotional activities both on and off Hulu, while we can add great diversity to our content line-up.” said Kazufumi Nagasawa, chief content officer, HJ Holdings.

Hulu launched its Japan service in September 2011, while Japan business was fully acquired by Nippon Television Network Corp. (Nippon TV) in April 2014.  Hulu in Japan currently offers subscriptions for unlimited viewing of premium content on internet-connected devices such as TVs, PCs, tablets, smartphones, STBs and gaming consoles.