HBO Asia will enter into a partnership with the China Movie Channel to develop Chinese-language tv movies to air in China and overseas. Chinese television has an estimated 1.2 billion viewers.

The China Movie Channel , CCTV6, is the "flagship" entertainment channel of the state broadcaster China Central Television.

"We're very excited to be partnering with HBO on high-quality TV movies," Zhang Ling, vice president of China Movie Channel, told The Hollywood Reporter in Cannes. "Our business models are very complimentary, so it is a natural collaboration. We will share more details about our plans at the Shanghai International Film Festival," she added. The SIFF runs June 11-18.

HBO will handle distribution overseas for the content while the China Movie Channel will broadcast the content within China.

China Movie Channel is the official Chinese broadcaster of the Oscars. The state-backed company also has invested in several Hollywood films, such as Paramount's Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and Skydance Production's Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015). CCTV6 execs tell THR more such investments are to come.

"Our next project is the distribution of Angry Birds in China" on May 20, Zhang said, adding: "The door is open to more collaboration with Hollywood."

HBO has been expanding its overseas production, producing drama series in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Singapore.