All-Star game will see NBA return to Chinese TV: reports
- CCTV stopped showing the league in aftermath of then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s controversial tweet in October 2019
- Last season’s Finals were shown on terrestrial channel but games only available online since
Next month’s NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta is proving controversial with some of the league’s star players but the event will also mark the return of basketball to Chinese television, according to reports.
The All-Star Game, which will take place on March 7 in the US, is set to be broadcast on the state-owned China Central Television as reported by Chinese basketball journalist Zhao Huanyu on Saturday.
“If there are no surprises, CCTV will resume broadcasting NBA events during the All-Star Weekend in early March, as many fans have been waiting for a long time,” he wrote on Weibo.
“CCTV will not only air the All-Star games, but will also resume the daily game broadcasts,” Zhao said. He confirmed to Chinese newspaper Global Times on Sunday that CCTV had agreed a deal with the NBA last year.
That signalled an end to more than 30 years of NBA games being shown on China’s national terrestrial television network.
