After a heated week for the NBA in which it faced an intense backlash from Chinese fans and sponsors, Tencent, which holds a $1.5 billion deal with the NBA, is quietly softening its stance.
: Tencent live-streamed two NBA games on Monday, appearing to lift a ban on its streaming of pre-season games despite China's state broadcaster continuing to suspend its coverage amid a free speech row.: Chinese social media giant Tencent is the NBA’s biggest overseas partner after it signed a $1.5 billion, five-year deal to stream NBA games in China.
It comes after Tencent did not air the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets pre-season games last week, both of which went ahead in China, despite the backlash. An October 6 statement by Tencent Sports on on microblogging site Weibo, which announced a decision to ban streaming of NBA games, was unpinned from the top of the page., Tencent will stream pre-season games in pictures and text only until October 23, when video streaming will resume fully.
It comes amid efforts by the Chinese government to cool down the crisis over concerns that harsh criticism of the NBA is hurting China's image abroad, according to the: Speaking to reporters on Monday, Beijing’s foreign affairs spokesman, Geng Shuang, said of the Tencent decision: “Exchanges in sports have always played an important role in promoting China-U.S. exchanges and friendship, but like we stated earlier, be it in China or the U.S.
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