LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - HBO is renewing Mike Judge's send-up of the rarefied technology world Silicon Valley for a second season after three of the comedy's first eight episodes aired, the premium cable channel said on Monday.

The show, from the creator of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head, about the travails of programmers launching a start-up has received praise from critics and Silicon Valley executives alike for its authentic portrayal of the quirky culture that few have dared to tackle for television.

The 30-minute show is in HBO's strong Sunday line-up along with medieval fantasy Game of Thrones, which has been renewed for fifth and six seasons, and political satire Veep starring Emmy-winning Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

HBO, owned by Time Warner, said on Monday it was also renewing Veep for a fourth season.

Season four of Game of Thrones kicked off on April 6 with an average of 6.6 million viewers, the largest HBO audience since the 2007 finale of mafia drama The Sopranos. The debut of Silicon Valley on the same night drew an average of 2 million viewers and season three of Veep averaged 955,000.