Liverpool and Everton face missing out on millions after the Premier League pulled the plug on its biggest overseas television deal.
The governing body has confirmed they have terminated with immediate effect the agreement with Chinese broadcasters PPTV over the right to show live coverage of top-flight matches.
Suning Holdings, who runs digital channel PPTV, had agreed last year a record £564m deal with the Premier League for the current 2019-22 cycle, but had chosen to withhold a payment of £160m in March.
And that has prompted the Premier League to scrap the deal after just one season.
A statement said: "The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory.
"The Premier League will not be commenting further on the matter at this stage."
While Suning - who have a controlling interest in Inter Milan - are thought to have been responding to the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, it's believed the Premier League has also been been caught up in the growing tensions between China and the UK Government.
The Chinese ambassador in London recently accused Boris Johnson's administration of interfering in the country's internal affairs regarding Hong Kong security laws, with the Government having already banned Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from the new development of 5G in Britain.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV chose not to broadcast some Premier League games after the season resumed in June.
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