The NBA returns to Chinese public television a year and a half later

Chinese public television broadcast live its first game of the American basketball league NBA in almost a year and a half on Wednesday due to a controversy surrounding Hong Kong.

In October 2019, at a time when massive pro-democracy protests were taking place in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, the then CEO of the Houston Rockets posted a message of support for the Hong Kong protesters.

His message upset the Chinese power and caused a diplomatic crisis. Many major Chinese companies have cut ties with the NBA, while public television network CCTV has stopped broadcasting US championship games.

This Wednesday, the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz aired, the first in almost a year and a half.

The outlet had boycotted the popular basketball league in October 2019 but made an exception a year later with the broadcast of a game. Since then, the NBA had not been seen openly on Chinese television.

CCTV could not immediately be reached to ask about the change in position.

The Internet giant Tencent continued to broadcast US basketball games but only to its subscribers, which meant a much smaller audience.

Rockets CEO Daryl Morey’s controversial tweet sparked a serious crisis between China and the NBA. However, those responsible for the competition refused to apologize or sanction the now former manager despite the financial consequences of the controversy.

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