US film giant Warner Bros announced on Thursday it had struck a groundbreaking deal to offer its films on pay-per-view television in China via cable and online.
The distribution agreement will make Warner the first US studio to offer films on demand via television nationwide in China, a huge expanding target market for the struggling US movie industry.
Through the YOU On Demand service, eventually up to 200 million households will be able to access Warner Bros’ new releases and back-catalogue films starting this summer, the entertainment giant said in a statement.
“China is developing methods for consumers to view movies outside the cinema in a legitimate fashion,” said Jim Wuthrich, head of International Home Video and Digital Distribution for Warner Bros.
“Through YOU On Demand’s platform, millions of potential consumers will be able to view our films, including, for example, the latest Harry Potter blockbuster, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1,” he added.
YOU On Demand will operate under an exclusive 20-year agreement with CCTV-6’s pay TV arm China Home Cinema (CHC) in a deal involving Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group’s joint venture in China and YOU On Demand Holdings.
Like other US studios, Warner Bros is grappling with the transformation of its traditional theater-based distribution model in the exploding Internet and cable era, compounded by cheap pirated DVDs.
In addition, Hollywood is constrained by rules that limit the number of foreign films released in theaters in China to 20 per year, according to the Los Angeles Times. There are no quotas on films released via television.
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell sharply against the US dollar to close at its lowest level since May 22 amid a massive outflow of funds from the country because of investors panicking over global equity markets. The NT dollar ended at NT$31.580 against the US dollar, slightly lower than its close of NT$31.568 on May 22, after moving between NT$31.5 and NT$31.648 on combined turnover of US$3.062 billion on the Taipei Foreign Exchange and the Cosmos Foreign Exchange. The NT dollar received a significant hit in the morning session, slumping as much as NT$0.173 at a time when other Asian currencies
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is now ranked ninth among the world’s 100 most valuable companies after its market capitalization more than doubled over the past year, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said in a report last month. TSMC’s market capitalization surged 101 percent year-on-year to US$1.427 trillion as of March 31, the accounting and consulting firm’s 2026 Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalization report said. The gain catapulted the world’s largest contract chipmaker from 12th place to ninth in the rankings, and it was the fastest-growing among the global top 10, it said. TSMC was the only Taiwanese company among the top
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$416.975 billion (US$13.17 billion) for last month, putting the world’s largest contract chipmaker on track to set a record for quarterly revenue. Last month’s figure surpassed March’s record NT$415.19 billion and represented increases of 1.5 percent from April and 30.1 percent from a year earlier. For the first five months of the year, TSMC generated NT$1.96 trillion in revenue, up 30 percent year-on-year, it said in a statement. TSMC has forecast second-quarter revenue of between US$39 billion and US$40.2 billion, representing sequential growth of about 10 percent and year-on-year growth of about
RSS