Tencent Joins Forces With ESPN To Tap March Madness In China

Tencent Holding Ltd. has inked a multiyear deal with ESPN, a division of Walt Disney Co., to air live sporting matches and Chinese-language commentary.

QQ Sports, Tencent’s flagship sports portal, will launch an ESPN sports section, initially focussing on NBA and international soccer, according to a statement from ESPN.

ESPN will provide exclusive Mandarin-language commentary for every game in the 2016 NBA playoffs, as well as a weekly “opinion and debate program” for Tencent users. The deal also covers the NCAA ‘March Madness’ Basketball Championship along with the X Games.

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