China’s state-run television broadcast the first-ever North American league game in over a year live on Wednesday, following an NBA boycott over a controversial Hong Kong tweet.
Keystone
In October 2019, when huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests shook the semi-autonomous territory, Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted a message of support for Hong Kong protesters opposed to Beijing.
His controversial message on Twitter had provoked the ire of Chinese power and a diplomatic crisis.
In the process, several major companies in China cut their ties with the NBA, while public television CCTV stopped broadcasting matches of the North American basketball league.
On Wednesday for the first time since October 2020, CCTV broadcast an NBA meeting on its antenna, which saw the Los Angeles Clippers win over Utah Jazz (121-115).
This is the first general public broadcast of an American basketball championship game in China for a year and a half.
CCTV boycotted the NBA in October 2019 but broke that rule a year later. No game has been broadcast since.
Despite the boycott, the internet giant Tencent continued to broadcast matches, but on subscription, thus reaching a more confidential audience.
CCTV gave no explanation for the resumption of broadcasting of NBA matches on Wednesday.
ATS
