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China won’t show NBA preseason games as backlash over a Hong Kong tweet grows

 

China won’t broadcast or stream NBA preseason games held in the country. It’s a dramatic escalation of a political firestorm that began when the general manager of the Houston Rockets expressed support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

CCTV’s sports channel said Tuesday that it had “decided to immediately halt” broadcasts of the basketball league’s preseason matches in China after it expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” over NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s response to Daryl Morey’s tweet. The broadcaster is also reviewing its wider relationship with the NBA.
Tencent (TCEHY), the NBA’s exclusive digital partner in China, also said it would suspend live streaming for NBA preseason games in China.
The controversy began when Morey tweeted his support for the demonstrations in Hong Kong over the weekend. His post, which has since been deleted, included an image that read, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” The former British colony now controlled by China has been rocked by months of political unrest.
Those remarks led several Chinese businesses to suspend ties with the Rockets, throwing that team’s relationship with the country into doubt. That backlash triggered an initial response from the NBA on Monday. In a statement, the organization said that it recognized that Morey’s views “have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.”
But that statement, too, invited more criticism — this time from Americans. US politicians accused the NBA of kowtowing to Beijing to protect its financial interests.

Source: China won’t show NBA preseason games as backlash over a Hong Kong tweet grows