Youku.com Reaches Licensing Deal With Twentieth Century Fox

Youku.com Inc. (YOKU) reached a licensing deal with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for 250 new release films and library titles for its online television business.

The Chinese online television company has been adding licensing deals to expand its selection of television shows and movies.

Youku.com's American depositary shares were up 8.5% at $18.34 in premarket trading. Through Tuesday's close, they are down roughly 57% in the past year.

The company went public in the U.S. in December 2010, at the time posting the strongest first-day performance for a stock in the U.S. in five years.

Youku said the Twentieth Century Fox titles will appear on its premium on-demand platform, where the company said an increasing portion of its users pay more than once a month to view its premium offerings.

The agreement includes online rights to movie franchises including "Planet of the Apes," "Ice Age," "X-Men" and "Aliens."

China's Internet usage has grown steadily, and ad spending has improved, though Youku has faced hurdles in piracy lawsuits, challenges navigating government censorship and state-owned media's expansion onto the Web.

Youku.com in November reported that its third-quarter loss narrowed as its revenue more than doubled.

Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of News Corp. (NWA, NWSA), which also owns The Wall Street Journal and this newswire.

 
   -By Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2481; [e-mail]