The decision of the Chinese platform iQiyi Sports comes at a time when the English league is considering suspending television rights contracts in Russia
The Premier League matches will not be broadcast in China this weekend due to the plans of the English teams to show messages of support for Ukraine after the invasion of the Russian Army, as revealed on Friday by the BBC.
The iQiyi Sports platform, which owns the broadcasting rights of the English league in the Asian country, has informed the Premier that it will not broadcast the next games, in which the team captains will wear armbands with the Ukrainian flag, British media reported. .
The Chinese company signed a three-year contract last year for the rights to English football, the amount of which was not disclosed.
Premier League officials this week announced plans for stadium screens to display messages of support for Kyiv and fans to be invited to take “a moment of reflection and solidarity” before the kick-off of all matches.
The English league has refused to comment on the blackout on Chinese English football television, limiting itself to stressing this week that it “completely rejects Russia’s actions” in Ukraine.
The decision of the Chinese platform comes at a time when the Premier is considering suspending television rights contracts in Russia, according to the newspaper “The Times”.
This is not the first time that the Asian country has vetoed the broadcast of English football. In 2019, the Chinese channel CCTV removed the broadcast of a match between Arsenal and Manchester City after the German midfielder Mesut Ozil criticized on social media the treatment of the Uyghur minority.
France suspends Match TV rights
The French Professional Football League (LFP) announced this Friday that it is immediately suspending the broadcasting rights of the Russian public channel Match TV due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a brief statement, the LFP indicated that it has decided to suspend the contract it had with that television, which is one of the main sports channels in Russia, especially football, basketball, hockey, boxing or Formula 1, linked to the gas giant Gazprom.
The French league matches are broadcast on the Okko streaming platform and Match TV was to take over from the 2022-2023 season and for six years.
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