BEIJING – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Migu, a China Mobile subsidiary that provides digital content products and services, announced today a multiyear partnership that will deliver extensive NBA content to fans in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau across Migu and China Mobile’s family of media brands.  This partnership makes Migu an official partner of the NBA in China and marks Migu’s first partnership with a North American sports league.

The announcement was made today in Guangzhou at the 2018 China Mobile Global Partner Conference by Vice President of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd Qin Jian, GM of Migu Xin Liu, NBA China CEO Derek Chang and NBA Executive Vice President of Media Operations and Technology Steve Hellmuth, with two-time NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury in attendance.

As the Official Telecom Carrier Immersion Platform of the NBA in China, Migu will provide fans in mainland China with daily NBA game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, original programming and classic NBA games on a variety of Migu’s assets.  Migu and the NBA will work together to explore new technologies to enhance the viewing experience, including 4K resolution and virtual reality.  Migu and the NBA will also work together to grow the Jr. NBA – the league’s global youth basketball program for boys and girls – in China.

In Hong Kong and Macau, Migu will broadcast live NBA games, including preseason and regular-season games, the NBA Playoffs, The NBA Finals, NBA All-Star and the NBA Draft, as well as original NBA programming including NBA Awards, NBA Action and more.  Migu will also carry the NBA’s 24/7 dedicated channel, NBA TV, on its platforms.

“We are thrilled to start our relationship with China Mobile, Migu and their various media platforms,” said Chang.  “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.”

“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,” said Qin Jian. “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.”

The partnership also allows Migu to design and sell NBA and Migu co-branded lifestyle merchandise available to fans on China Mobile and Migu’s platforms.  Additionally, Migu will become the official marketing partner of the NBA China Games.

About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the NBA G League and the NBA 2K League.  The NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 50 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 100,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2018-19 season featured 108 international players from 42 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with 1.5 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

About Migu
Migu Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Migu”) is a professional integrated subsidiary of China Mobile, established for providing digital content products, operation and services in the mobile Internet field. Migu is the only operational entity of CMCC in the business sector of music, video, reading, games and comics, with five subsidiaries: Migu Music, Migu Video, Migu Digital Media, Migu Interative Entertainment and Migu Comic. Migu has become the largest library of legitimate digital content resources in China, leading the full-scenes brand immersion platform in China and converging more than 20 million songs, 4.6 million videos, 1,220 live broadcasts, 500,000 books, 32,000 games and 550,000 comics.

For the future, Migu will focus on “sports + entertainment” and launch the NGIE (next generation immersion experience) with the vision of “innovative culture, full-immersion experience and ecological technology company” to bring the ultimate immersion experience to users.