China Central Television (CCTV) announced on October 9 that its sports channel CCTV5 would air Game 5 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals featuring the Miami Heat against the LA Lakers. It was CCTV’s first NBA broadcast after a suspension of more than a year.
CCTV announced it would stop broadcasting NBA games on October 8, 2019 after NBA President Adam Silver publicly supported Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, who had offended China by tweeting support for violent protests in Hong Kong. CCTV responded that they did not think that any remarks that challenge a country’s sovereign rights fall in the range of “freedom of speech” as Silver said.
According to CCTV, the NBA’s return was based on the fact that the NBA continued to support China, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. In February, the NBA donated 185 million yuan (US$27.2m) of medical equipment to Wuhan, which was heavily hit by the virus at the time. The NBA also sent greetings to Chinese audiences during the eight-day holiday for China’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Analysts said the NBA is likely to have lost thousands of millions of dollars from the year-long suspension in its biggest overseas market.
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