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FILE: A general view of the interior of the Wells Fargo Center in a game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Washington Wizards on December 23, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images / AFP
Chinese streaming giant Tencent stopped live broadcasts of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers games in apparent protest against its new president Daryl Morey, who sparked a dispute by expressing support for the Hong Kong protesters last year.
Tencent has been offering text updates only for Sixers games, as well as those involving the Houston Rockets, Morey’s former employer. He also declined to screen Rockets games last season.
State broadcaster CCTV, which owns China’s exclusive television rights to the NBA, has not broadcast any games since the season opened on December 22.
Tencent’s refusal to broadcast the Sixers and Rockets games, and the continued blackout of CCTV, prolongs a year in the NBA’s largest international market that has cost it hundreds of millions of dollars.
Morey, then general manager of the Rockets, tweeted “Fight for freedom, support Hong Kong” in October 2019, referring to pro-democracy protests that Beijing calls separatist and seditious.
When the NBA backed Morey’s right to free speech, CCTV responded by withdrawing the broadcasts, although it made a gesture of “goodwill” by broadcasting Game 5 of the NBA Finals series in October.
Tencent has continued to stream games, but only text updates were available for the Sixers’ season-opening win over the Washington Wizards on December 23.
Two other Sixers games over the weekend, against the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, also had text updates.
The Rockets’ games remain text-only this season, despite Yao Ming’s former team’s popularity in China.
Morey, who joined the 76ers in early November, told ESPN last week that he once feared his tweet supporting Hong Kong activists could end his NBA career.
However, he said he remained “very comfortable with what I did” even though he did not anticipate the outrage he would face from China.
Separately, the NBA fined Morey $ 50,000 (40,961 euros) on Monday for a tweet praising Rockets star James Harden, who indicated he would accept a deal to join the 76ers.
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