Hulu will be exiting its Japanese service to Nippon TV, TechCrunch reported.
The video streaming platform rolled out its subscription streaming service in Japan in 2011. In its three years of operations, the company built a massive video content library containing 13,000 videos from its 50 different partners. Despite these, the company seemed to find that the Japanese subsidiary was not integral to its long-term strategy of providing streaming video from its content partners based in the US and that another company could find more use for the business, the report said.
Hulu Chief Executive Officer Mike Hopkins wrote in his blog post about the deal, "We have now reached a point in the growth of the business in Japan where we feel the best path forward is to sell the company to a strategic buyer. I'm announcing today that Hulu's Japan business is to be acquired by Nippon Television Network Corporation (Nippon TV), who will assume the day-to-day operations and management of the business at the closing of the transaction."
Hopkins also said in the blog post that Hulu will be licensing their brand and technology. It will also continue to give services to the Japanese unit so that its users will be getting the same quality of service that they always received.
As part of the acquisition, Nippon TV will also be putting its well-known titles in the unit, Hopkins wrote. He added that detail about the types of content that will be added will be forthcoming.
Hopkins concluded his blog post by writing, "I'm confident that the Hulu business in Japan is in very good hands, and Nippon TV will take the service to new heights, with the added benefit of allowing us to focus on our growing business here in the U.S. Thank you to all of our customers and partners across the globe for your continued loyalty and enthusiasm for Hulu."
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