CCTV Halts NBA Broadcasts in China

<- May 30, 2008 ->

China News, 5/30/08

Starting from May 23, CCTV's Olympic Channel (CCTV-Olympic, originally CCTV-5) canceled live re-broadcasting of NBA games. Later, local television channels such as Guangdong Sports channel and a number of P2P online video sites such as PPLive and PPStream also halted re-broadcasting of NBA games. However, during the same period, the Women's Asian Cup, the 2008 French Open, and other sporting events continued to be re-broadcast.

According to newspaper New Express, CCTV halted NBA game broadcasts as a protest against those voices within the NBA criticizing China over certain political issues. It particularly mentioned that "even NBA Commissioner David Stern encouraged NBA players to get involves in 'hot social issues'".

However, according to an insider from CCTV, NBA re-broadcasting may be resumed from June.

Keywords: policy, sports, CCTV, CCTV-5, NBA, online video, P2P, PPLive, PPStream, television, Olympics

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