In talking with Bloomberg’s Ian …

In talking with Bloomberg’s Ian Boudway, Joe Tsai notes that getting NBA games back on CCTV-5, the Chinese government owned version of ESPN, is critical. TenCent, the company that holds the NBA’s streaming rights, is back airing games, but CCTV has refused to relent on its boycott. “Once you are on the air,” Tsai said, “everything will come back.” And a “person familiar with the matter” told Bouway that the league is optimistic the network will begin airing games again, starting with the All-Star Game on February 16.