The Simpsons will make its official debut in China this month – marking the first major video-streaming deal after Chinese regulators tightened the approval process for streaming sites.
Internet giant Sohu and 20th Century Fox Television Distribution announced the licensing deal on Monday, the companies said in a statement.
It will be the first time the 25-year-old cult cartoon series will be officially broadcast in the country.
The companies said the deal includes the 26th season of the television series, which is set to launch in the US on September 28. The show will be subtitled in Chinese. The value of the multi-year deal was not reported.
"Sohu viewers across China will now be able to enjoy The Simpsons’ irreverent outlook with the rest of the world,”the statement read.
"Woo hoo! Now we can reveal Springfield is actually in Guangdong province,”Al Jean, the show’s executive producer said, reacting to the deal.
The longest-running prime time TV show in America is about a dysfunctional suburban family known as much for their distinctive yellow skin as their broad comedic range, including a satirical take on the day’s issues.
The agreement comes only a week after China’s broadcasting regulator said it must approve foreign television shows before they could be aired on online video-streaming sites, putting an end to a rare loophole in the tightly regulated Chinese broadcasting market.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television told online-streaming sites to register foreign television shows by early next year and remove unapproved television shows by then, ending long-running speculation that they would restrict irreverent foreign TV content.
In April, Sohu already removed The Big Bang Theory, a US comedy series with a huge fan audience in China, from its offerings. Chinese state media later reported that CCTV, the traditional national broadcaster, would air an edited version of the series, sparking an outcry among its fans.
The reports did not say whether The Simpsons episodes would be censored in China to gain regulatory approval.
The show has in the past poked fun at the Chinese government. One episode aired in 2005 featured a sign for Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that read “On This Site, in 1989, Nothing Happened”.
In another episode aired last year, Lisa Simpson tells her mother Marge that she would eventually get married, “even if it’s only a green card marriage to keep a Chinese dissident from being deported”.
As of the end of last year, Sohu was the largest provider of foreign television shows in China. It offered 144 American and British TV series, according to data by the Beijing-based consultancy EntGroup. Among others, it broadcasts the series House of Cards, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Competitors Tencent and Youku Tudou respectively carried 123 and 109 series.
Sohu, Fox and Film Roman, the company producing the cult cartoon series, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.