As the COVID-19 pandemic shutters sporting events around the world, English-language broadcasts of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) this week provided a lifeline to deprived sports fans, with veteran US sports commentator Keith Olbermann featuring among them.
The push to share Taiwanese baseball with a wider English-speaking audience has been led by the Eleven Sports network, the broadcaster for the Taoyuan-based Rakuten Monkeys, which has been streaming the games free of charge via its Twitter account since the season opened last weekend.
More than 1 million people on Friday tuned in to view its English-language broadcast, even though the game was played to empty stands in compliance with Taiwan’s social distancing guidelines, the network said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, the English-language broadcasts might not extend beyond today. Due to the costs involved in producing them, the network has only guaranteed commentary for the five Rakuten Monkeys home games between Wednesday and today.
In an interview with Time magazine this week, a CPBL spokesperson said the league was unsure how long the broadcasts would continue.
Local media have reported that the league is in talks with international media groups to sell the broadcast rights, which could result in an extension.
In the meantime, many US fans have said that they are willing to wake up early if that is what it takes to watch a live baseball game.
“This is exactly what I needed... Announcers rock too,” read one tweet, while another asked: “ESPN, can we get this on TV?”
In an interview on Friday, Rakuten manager Tseng Hao-chu (曾豪駒) said that he was grateful for all the attention from abroad, which has given his club a chance to “show what we can do.”
While Taiwan’s success in responding to COVID-19 has given the CPBL a rare opportunity for international exposure, it remains to be seen whether the English-language broadcasts will be enough to retain a newfound fan base when baseball leagues in the US start playing again.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS