China’s sports broadcasting rivalry heats up

Sports broadcasting in China has never been a profitable business. But that has not stopped large companies from putting their money to work.

Tencent is the latest to make a huge bet on the sports broadcasting sector after agreeing to extend its broadcasting rights of live NBA games for five years. The US basketball league did not disclose the financial details of the transaction but Chinese media estimated the figure to be around $1.5 billion, or three times the value of the previous five-year deal.

By extending NBA’s broadcasting rights, the Chinese tech giant hopes to maintain its competitive edge in the sports streaming sector...