- Nearly two years after the league had been blacklisted, CCTV in China aired its first NBA match.
- After Daryl Morey (a team official) tweeted his support for Hong Kong’s ban in 2019, the ban was implemented. pro-democracy protests.
- China is the NBA’s biggest overseas market. There are more than 5 billion dollars in business operations. per CNBC.
Two years after the American basketball league was frozen out, CCTV in China aired its first NBA match. Follow a pro-Hong Kong Tweet.
Viewers in China watched the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Utah Jazz on Wednesday — the first NBA to be shown on CCTV since October 2020.
CCTV had blacklisted NBA since Daryl Morey (then-manager of the Houston Rockets) tweeted support for the NBA in 2019. Hong Kong’s pro democracy protests. The tweet caused an immediate backlash with partners and sponsors cutting ties to the NBA in the biggest market overseas. per AFP.
Since then, matches in China were only viewable Tencent offers streaming over the internet.
Insider asked for comment, but the national broadcaster didn’t give any reason for airing Wednesday’s game.
Some fans celebrated the return of the league to state television. However, others took offense at the broadcaster’s inability to do so. “no backbone.”
Weibo is a Twitter-like platform. Users claimed that the broadcaster was being “shameless” “greedy for money.”
China’s NBA operations are worth more that $5 billion. per CNBC. As described by The New York TimesBasketball is the most loved sport in the country with hundreds of millions of followers.