Hulu is bowing out of Japan.
Less than three years after the streaming service entered the country, Hulu has inked a deal to sell its Hulu Japan service to Nippon TV, both companies announced late Thursday.
No financial terms were disclosed.
If approved by regulators, the agreement would launch Nippon TV into the SVOD business for the first time.
Under a separate agreement, Nippon TV will license the Hulu name and technology, so that viewers will continue to watch content on a Hulu-branded platform. Nippon TV will also launch original series via Hulu.
Hulu Japan streams content from 50 different providers, with more than 1,000 films and 12,000 TV episodes. Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar was a driving force behind the expansion into Japan, the company’s first international market.
Kilar abruptly left Hulu last year amid stories of internal turmoil and clashes with the company’s backers, Disney, NBCUniversal, and 21st Century Fox.
The Japan exit is being seen as a retrenchment for Hulu as it looks to work more closely with providers.
Read More: LA Times, Broadcasting & Cable
Brief Take: Hulu’s sale of its Japan service shows it is refocusing on the domestic U.S. market and working more closely with cable and satellite providers, as well as its original series.
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