Chinese state TV blacks out NBA season opener after threat of 'retribution'

• League and China in dispute over Hong Kong protests
• Broadcasters and sponsors have threatened boycott

China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, went against tradition and did not show any NBA games on the opening day of the new season.

CCTV customarily shows the first game of the NBA season, which started in North America on Tuesday night, the early hours of Wednesday in China. However, the season opener, between the reigning champion Toronto Raptors and the New Orleans Pelicans was blacked out. The Raptors-Pelicans game was also absent from the NBA’s streaming partner in China, Tencent, although the broadcaster was scheduled to show a later game between LeBron James’s LA Lakers and their cross-city rivals, the Clippers.

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