NBA audience wearing Taiwan flag forced Tencent to stop broadcasting in emergency
#ChinaInfluence #ChinaThreat #NBA #Censorship
“No live broadcasting for L.A. Lakers vs. Miami Heat?!” While the 2,500 Chinese audience were watching the NBA game between L.A. Lakers and Miami Heat, Tencent Sports suddenly halted the live streaming under the reason of “the game’s transmission medium failed to meet broadcasting standards”. In fact, the screen at that moment was showing an audience sitting in first row, who was wearing a shirt with a logo “Blue Sky with a White Sun”. Many Chinese NBA fans complained, “does that mean there is no more broadcasting if the game shows anything related to Taiwan Independence or Hong Kong Independence?”. Some netizens even posted the post “Tencent NBA Game L.A. Lakers v.s. Miami Heat live broadcasting interrupted” and commented that it is “unforgivable”.
The screenshots online showed that Tencent Sports live screen appeared with the message, “the game’s transmission medium failed to meet broadcasting standards” on screen, therefore the game broadcast was suspended. Then it changed to broadcast another NBA game, Portland Trail Blazers v.s. Brooklyn Nets. Many NBA fans in Mainland China posted on Tencent Sport Forum to discuss and ask for reason. Later, some Weibo netizens pointed out that Tencent halted the streaming because the flag of “Taiwan Independence” was showing on scene. Some even said there was an audience wearing a cloth with “Blue Sky with a White Sun”, sitting aside the Miami Heat coach team in the first row of right hand side of screen.
According to the NBA Highlight, that Asian man sitting in the first row was wearing a cloth with “Blue Sky with a White Sun”. Though it was not eye catching, Tencent Sports could not avoid to broadcast it as the live streaming was provided by NBA Official.
Since Daryl Morey, the General Manager of NBA Houston Rockets tweeted in Twitter to voice support for the "No extradition to China" protests in Hong Kong, both Tencent Sports & China Government Media CCTV were boycotting NBA by suspending the broadcast of the NBA Pre-Season Game in China. The live streaming was restored at the 2nd NBA regular season game. Tencent still refuses to broadcast all the Houston Rockets NBA games till now.
Apple Daily (09-Nov)
https://hk.news.appledaily.com/china/realtime/article/20191109/60249171 (https://hk.news.appledaily.com/china/realtime/article/20191109/60249171)