Nanjing’s Suning that is one of China’s top three private enterprises is now again in the international spotlight, this time for failing to pay rights for broadcasting English Premier League football matches, to the tune of £160 million (¥1.45 billion).
The payment was due back in March, but it has taken until now for the Premier League to suspend the provision of broadcasts to Suning’s PPTV streaming service.
A statement released by the Premier League yesterday said, “The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory”, reported the BBC.
As such, it is no longer possible for Chinese football fans to watch their beloved Premier League. Not that there has been much to watch of late. And this has been the reason cited by Suning for withholding payment.
For Suning, the disarray to English football caused by Covid and now the disappearance of the sport from Chinese screens may in fact be blessings in disguise.
With more and more young people China seeking a healthy lifestyle and choosing to participate in sport rather than watch it, the future viewership for PPTV’s sporting content is a dwindling one at best.
Back in the UK, there are no such silver linings. China was the Premier League’s biggest overseas television rights territory. That 160-million-pound loss is going to hurt, coming at a time when English football clubs are still reeling from further hundreds of millions in lost ticket sales and other kinds of income from sources such as sponsorship.
Suning, on the other hand, is rolling in it. The company was China’s number 3 private enterprise by revenue last year, behind Huawei and airline lessor HNA, reported China Daily.
As Nanjing’s biggest success story, Suning’s involvement in retail, e-commerce, real estate and sport means the behemoth’s tentacles somehow ensnare each and every one of Nanjing’s eight million citizens.
