Latest news with #BillKoenig
Fox News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Senator presses NBA exec about league's 'cozy relationship' with China: 'American people deserve transparency'
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed NBA executive Bill Koenig Tuesday about the league's ties to China, a highly debated topic for some time. Representatives from most of the big professional sports leagues were at the Capitol Tuesday to discuss media rights, broadcasting and streaming services across the industry. During the hearing, Blackburn posed a few questions to Koenig, the NBA's president of global content & media distribution, specifically about how the league has dealt with China in recent years. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Blackburn began with some background on the situation. "I've, through the years, looked at the NBA's relationship with oppressive regimes around the globe," Blackburn said. "And, of course, you all have had quite a cozy relationship with the CCP, and we know how they censor. MARK CUBAN DEFENDS NBA'S CHINA PARTNERSHIP DESPITE OPPOSING 'CHINESE AND ALL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS' "Going back to 2019, with Daryl Morey's tweet in support of the Hong Kong freedom fighters, and that resulted in the suspension [of] the NBA broadcast on their state-run media channels. In recent years, it appears you all have patched that relationship up, which means there had to be some sort of deal that was there and must have been quite a deal." Morey, who was the Houston Rockets' general manager at the time, fired off a tweet that said, "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," in October 2019. That tweet was in support of pro-democracy protests happening in the communist state. China responded by announcing the NBA's preseason games that were expected to be played in Shanghai at the time would not be televised. Then, it extended that suspension for almost a full year before putting the NBA back on its state-run television during the 2020 NBA Finals. After suggesting the NBA and China had to come to a deal to get their relationship back on track, Blackburn pressed Koenig for the details. "So, since we're talking about broadcast rights and what they're worth, why don't you tell me what the broadcast rights in China are worth, and how much NBA owners have invested in China," she said. "The NBA does have a very long history of distributing our games and content in China for more than 30 years," Koenig responded, but that wasn't sufficient for Blackburn. "I'm not asking about the length of time you've been in China. I'm asking what are the media rights worth? You're the president of global content and media distribution. So, what are those rights worth, and how much have the NBA owners invested in China?" Koenig responded, "The NBA does not comment publicly on the financial terms of our relationship — U.S. or abroad. But I can comment that you are accurate that, in light of the tweet that Daryl Morey made in 2019 …" "You had to cut a deal," Blackburn replied, but Koenig said the league did not. "The estimates are these media rights are worth hundreds of millions of dollars to you all, and that NBA team owners have invested as much as $10 billion dollars [in China]. I think some clarity into those numbers would be important," Blackburn added. "The other thing that we look at is human rights and we look at how the NBA has punished players who have spoken out against human rights abusers in China. Enes Kanter Freedom, one specifically. So, can you commit to me that in every deal the NBA makes around the globe that the league is upholding human rights, and that the league is upholding freedom of speech, and they're upholding the American ideals of freedom?" Koenig replied by saying "one of the NBA's most important values is freedom of speech." "In fact, the example you cited before — Daryl Morey. He was not disciplined or censored in any way in light of the comments that he made," Koenig added. "You're right. That comment may have led to lack of coverage by CCTV and other things. But, no, we very much value freedom of speech, and that's something I can confirm." Since the NBA mended its relationship with China, Commissioner Adam Silver has stated the league will look into playing games there again. "I think we will bring games back to China at some point," he said in October. "China's government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values. ... Anybody in our league has the right to speak out on political matters." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Silver also said in 2020 the NBA experienced "dramatic" financial losses due to corporate sponsors fleeing, among other factors, after its relationship with China soured. In 2022, an ESPN investigation found NBA owners had invested a combined $10 billion in China, which included an owner whose company had a joint venture with an entity sanctioned by the U.S. government. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
CNBC
01-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC Sport: Top sports executives head to Washington over media rights
Every so often, the world of politics collides with the world of sports. One of those moments is on deck next week – Tuesday, May 6 at 10 a.m. ET. That's when the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will convene a full committee hearing on the future of sports broadcasting. The committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will hear testimony from top executives at three of the biggest U.S. sports leagues — Bill Koenig, the National Basketball Association's President of Global Content and Media Distribution; David Proper, the National Hockey League's Senior Executive Vice President of Media and International Strategy; and Kenny Gersh, Major League Baseball's Executive Vice President of Media and Business Development. The hearing "will examine the policy questions raised by the changing ways Americans are watching live professional sports on television, particularly how traditional over-the-air broadcasts are increasingly supplemented—or even replaced—by digital platforms, subscription services, and exclusive streaming arrangements," according to a committee press release. The CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media, delivered weekly to your inbox. Subscribe here to get access today. Many rules surrounding sports broadcasting are arguably woefully antiquated. Live sporting events are often still blacked out in certain regions due to contractual broadcast rights either at the local or national level. This can be infuriating to fans, who can be trapped in areas of the country where they simply can't watch certain games, despite technology allowing easy access to all other entertainment at any time, in any place, on any device. Streaming services – the clear future of media distribution – have given fans some relief by offering games in certain leagues (such as Major League Soccer) without blackouts. Any subscriber to Apple TV+'s MLS Season Pass gets every game in every market for $14.99 per month. But regional sports networks for MLB, NBA and NHL still own the local rights for most teams, which forces fans to pay for either cable or a litany of streaming services to watch most games. One issue that's certain to come up at the hearing is the increasing proliferation of these streaming services. As leagues carve up their rights into smaller bundles, the onus falls on consumers to pay for more and more services – Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, WBD's Max and Disney's ESPN all own different packages of MLB games, for example. Senators (the elected U.S. officials, not to be confused with the NHL team from Ottawa) are likely to question league executives on their plans to bundle these streaming services to ensure that costs don't continue to balloon. "Catching your favorite team on TV shouldn't feel like solving a puzzle," Cruz said in a statement this week. "Games that used to be free or easy to find are now scattered across pricey apps and exclusive deals. This hearing will explore how leagues intend to keep sports accessible and affordable for the fans who make it all possible." Another issue likely to surface next week: There is some fear that the National Football League, in particular, may be getting too aggressive with its growing streaming strategy to offer games on new nights. Traditionally, the NFL hasn't broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights. This has protected high school and college football audiences, both in person and on TV. This isn't an accident. It's actually law. In 1961, a U.S. District Court ruled the NFL's proposed method of pooling media rights among all the teams as an exclusive contract with broadcaster CBS violated antitrust law. As a settlement, the NFL worked with Congress to pass the Sports Broadcasting Act (yup, that's a real thing), which created an exception to the Sherman Act allowing for sports leagues to make TV deals directly with networks on behalf of all of their teams. As part of that law, the NFL agreed not to broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights after 6 p.m. from the second Friday in September until the second Saturday in December. Obviously in 1961, streaming didn't exist. I'm told Congress (and the courts) may consider extending that provision to account for streaming as further protection for high school and college football. "The way Americans watch live sports, including the NFL, has changed dramatically in recent years," Cruz wrote in an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on April 17. "Many sporting events, once broadly available for free or through basic cable packages, are now distributed through subscription services and other fragmented models that have left some fans confused about where and how to watch their favorite teams. These shifts and existing, potentially outdated rules raise questions about accessibility, affordability, market competition, and the long-term implications for fan engagement." Cruz asked the NFL to testify alongside the other three sports leagues, but the league declined, citing timing conflicts, according to people familiar with the matter. The NFL did offer to send the committee information and communicate outside the hearing. (The NFL has a Washington, D.C., office.) The league's absence from the hearing – especially when executives from the other three leagues will be there – may make for a prime punching bag opportunity for Cruz and others. There are 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the committee. There's little doubt the NFL has been aggressive in carving out new packages with different streaming services to maximize revenue and potentially groom new media partners to buy the rights to more games down the road. This year, the NFL has three different games on Christmas – two on Netflix and one on Amazon. Christmas falls on a Thursday this year and on Friday next year. I'm told some members of the committee are fearful the NFL could eventually try to take over more territory by using streaming services as a platform to move games to Fridays and Saturdays earlier in the season if proper protections aren't installed. I'm told from league sources that this idea has never really come up before internally. So, the whole notion of the NFL moving in on high school and college football may be more grandstanding than anything based in substance. Having watched Senate hearings before, let's just say this wouldn't shock me. An NFL spokesperson declined to comment. If you're interested in watching the hearing, the committee will be taking advantage of the wonders of modern technology and streaming it live on its website. With NBC Sports President Rick Cordella ...
