Bloomberg/Getty

Adam Silver's soft power

Moving the Market: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is leveraging his position as the head of the most popular American sports league in China to stand up to Beijing's extraterritorial censorship efforts, a move that could shift how U.S. companies deal with pressure from China.

• While much has been said about China's economic muscle in the last 24 hours, the standoff between Beijing and the NBA is also calling attention to America's cultural power in the Middle Kingdom.

• 800 million people in China watched the 2018-19 NBA season last year, according to the League. That's more than half the Chinese population. It would be unthinkable for China to deprive them of the NBA.

• "Far from being vulnerable in this fight, the NBA holds all the leverage," Bloomberg columnist Adam Minter writes. "The government won’t be keen to pick a fight that tempts so many fans to defy it."

What's next: I wrote yesterday that Silver faced "a China test," familiar to all executives who have been pressured by Beijing. After moving too quickly to placate China, he passed the test by stating that the NBA would never regulate the speech of its players, employees and team owners.

• Now, Silver faces a different test: Not of how firmly he will stand in the face of Chinese pressure, but of how far he will go in leveraging the NBA's power to call China's bluff and quell the dispute.

• Both Silver and China would like to see this issue put to rest, because the NBA needs China and China needs the NBA. But Silver cannot budge on the free speech issue now without damaging his own reputation in the States, which means he must force Beijing's hand.

The big picture: China has economic power, but American businesses have cultural power. That should harden the resolve of executives who provide products or services that millions of people in the Middle Kingdom enjoy.

Billie Weiss/Getty

The ESPN scandal that wasn't

Big in Bristol: Jimmy Pitaro has come under fire after Deadspin reported that the ESPN chief forbid employees from discussing Chinese politics or the Hong Kong protests when reporting on the NBA-China conflict.

• There's actually no real scandal here. Pitaro has been telling employees not to discuss politics, foreign or domestic, since he took over the company almost a year-and-a-half ago.

• As Pitaro sees it, ESPN is a sports network. Consumers don't tune in to CNN for analysis of the Dodgers-Nationals game, so why would they tune in to ESPN for analysis of Hong Kong's political turmoil?

The big picture: There's a great theoretical debate to be had about whether or not ESPN should be more political. But the network's latest internal guidance regarding really isn't part of the larger China-NBA story.

🏀 Pop'in off 🏀

On Offense: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has expressed support for Silver's handling of the China controversy yesterday while taking a not-so-thinly-veiled shot at President Donald Trump.

• "Adam said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in," he sad, "rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of Mr. [Kamal] Khashoggi."

Alberto Rodriguez/Getty

Lions Gate to spin off Starz

Talk of Tinseltown: "Lions Gate is considering splitting off its Starz premium-cable channel into a separate company, as the studio looks to reduce its hefty debt load and allow shareholders to invest directly in either of the businesses," WSJ's Lillian Rizzo, Ben Mullin and Joe Flint report.

• The big picture: "Lions Gate... is facing financial headwinds as its studio and TV businesses come under pressure." The Starz deal could make the movie-studio business "more attractive to potential suitors who may be put off by the company’s outstanding debt."

Market Links

• Jeff Bezos hosts an advertiser conference in Seattle (CNBC)

• Jennifer Salke shakes up Amazon's film strategy (NYT)

• Peter Chernin pours $50 million into MeatEater (Axios)

• Ben Smith says Silicon Valley should be worried (Recode)

• Jeffrey Katzenberg adds '60 Minutes' to Quibi (LAT)

⚾ What's next: Hollywood on edge. The Dodgers-Nationals decisive Game 5 is tonight at 5:37 p.m. on TBS. Loser go home.

See you tomorrow.