China Pulls 'Game of Thrones' Finale -- WSJ
May 21 2019 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (May 21, 2019).
BEIJING -- Millions of "Game of Thrones" fans soaked up the
final episode of HBO's long-running TV series -- except in China,
where the premium platform says the last installment got scrubbed
due to trade tensions with the U.S.
Chinese viewers expecting to see the finale of the epic series
instead saw a notice about "transmission medium problems" on
Tencent Video, a division of internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd.
and the exclusive streaming provider of HBO content in China. "We
will notify you of another broadcasting time," the video platform
said in a longer explanation posted on its Weibo social-media
account one hour before the show was scheduled to air.
Angry fans took to Chinese social media over the delay,
demanding that their fees -- about 20 yuan ($2.89) a month or 198
yuan ($28.61) a year -- be returned. Some threatened to delete the
app and cancel accounts. One user said he had requested a day off
from work to watch the last episode. "I specially took a vacation
today!" he said.
An HBO spokesman said China restricted Tencent from airing "Game
of Thrones" due to the trade dispute with the U.S. The spokesman
said HBO didn't experience any trouble with the program's
transmission. He referred further queries to Tencent.
A spokesman for Tencent referred to the company's Weibo post and
didn't provide further comment.
In the past two weeks, the trade dispute between the U.S. and
China has turned acrimonious, and the bitterness has spilled into
public view. After the Trump administration accused China of
backsliding in negotiations to end the dispute and hiked tariffs on
Chinese goods, Beijing has hit back with its own punitive levies
and accusations, turning to government-controlled media to amplify
its displeasure.
Last week, the movie channel of state-run broadcaster China
Central Television abruptly dumped its regular programming and
began broadcasting anti-U.S. themed films during prime-time hours.
CCTV-6 was originally scheduled to air a red carpet gala, a Chinese
sci-fi film, and a Chinese comedy film. Instead, it aired a series
of war films portraying Chinese and Korean battle victories over
the U.S. in the Korean War. On its social-media account, CCTV-6
confirmed the scheduling changes and said the movies show that
Chinese people are "not afraid of strong enemies and can bravely
fight."
CCTV-6 didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Choosing pop culture to register anger with a foreign government
is a tactic Beijing has been accused of previously. After the South
Korean government agreed to deploy a U.S.-built anti-missile
battery over Beijing's objections two years ago, Korean performers
and pop stars said their performances in China were scrubbed or
blacklisted. Beijing denied explicitly targeting them.
If the trade dispute is confirmed as the reason for the "Game of
Thrones" final episode being pulled, "it's a good way to apply some
additional pressure outside of the eye-for-an-eye tariffs
framework," said Mark Natkin, managing director at Marbridge
Consulting in Beijing. "It sends a message that China can also
block market access for intangibles like film and TV content, which
it can blame ostensibly on content guideline violations."
"Game of Thrones" had been viewed 550 million times on Tencent
Video during the most recent season, according to Entgroup, a
Chinese entertainment industry data monitoring company based in
Beijing.
While Chinese users couldn't watch the last episode from Tencent
Video, they still managed to watch pirated versions on other online
platforms. Plot points from the last episode were leaked on Weibo,
where spoilers from the last episode had reached the top 20 topics
on the platform by Monday Beijing time.
American movies and TV shows are popular with Chinese audiences,
which are a growing source of revenue for U.S. entertainment
companies. Tencent announced a strategic cooperation with HBO in
2014 to be the exclusive provider of HBO content on its online
video platform, including "Game of Thrones," "The Newsroom" and
"Boardwalk Empire."
In its most recent filing, Tencent Video said its subscriber
base had reached 89 million, up 58%, year-over-year.
China's authoritarian government has more stringently policed
online content in recent years, and has been increasingly
content-sensitive in the runup to several high-profile
anniversaries, including the 30th anniversary on June 4 of the
military suppression of the Tiananmen Square democracy
demonstrations. Wikipedia confirmed this month that all versions of
the website in all languages have been blocked in China, not just
in Chinese, which has been the case on-and-off since 2004. Wildly
popular historical dramas also have been fraught with delays in
recent months, as censors try to sort out whether the past is being
used to comment on contemporary politics.
--Lekai Liu and Julie Wernau
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Tencent (PK) (USOTC:TCEHY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Tencent (PK) (USOTC:TCEHY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024