The National Basketball Association (NBA) has underlined its intention to strengthen its footprint within China, confirming a multi-year partnership deal with the country’s digital producer Migu to provide content to fans in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The deal is the telecommunications firm’s first with a North American sports league and makes Migu, owned by China Mobile, the NBA’s official telecom carrier immersion platform in China.
Under the terms of the agreement, Migu also becomes the official marketing partner of the NBA China Games, and will design and sell NBA and Migu co-branded merchandise to China Mobile customers.
NBA China Chief Executive Derek Chang said: “We are thrilled to start our relationship with China Mobile, Migu and their various media platforms. This new partnership provides us with the opportunity to tap into Migu and China Mobile’s expansive reach and help us continue to grow the game of basketball in China.”
Additionally Migu will deliver to fans daily NBA game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, original programming, and archived NBA games, via various Migu platforms, including 4K resolution and virtual reality. In Hong Kong and Macau, the firm will broadcast live NBA games during preseason, the regular season, playoffs and finals, as well as the NBA All-Star game and season draft.
“The cooperation between Migu and the NBA is China Mobile’s important step to increase the cooperation with top international content companies and jointly create a high-quality content platform with them,” stated Qin Jian, Vice President of China Mobile Communications. “The NBA is one of the most popular sports leagues in China and has connected with Chinese fans through the game of basketball for 40 years. We believe that we can leverage each other’s advantages in premium content production and media operations to bring a higher-quality experience to millions of domestic users.”