The CCTV 5 channel, which owns 85 percent of China's sports television market, had bought the broadcasting rights to the East Asian Championship tie and had scheduled it for a live broadcast from Tokyo on Saturday evening, local media said.
When fans tuned in for the clash with China's fiercest rivals, however, they were presented instead with a local version of the long-running European gameshow Jeux Sans Frontier, "Inter-Cities".
In Sunday's sports news bulletins, CCTV-5 did not mention the 0-0 result, or even that the match itself had taken place, local newspapers reported.
The channel also cancelled their wildly popular broadcast of North America's National Basketball Association (NBA) games during national mourning days for the 80,000 victims of the Sichuan earthquake earlier that year.
"We did show one game but then we were informed not to continue," Jiang Heping, director of the state TV sports channel, told Reuters at the time.
The 0-0 draw extended China's 12-year run without a victory against their East Asian neighbours.
"I want the national team to play well whether on the CCTV or not," Nan's successor Wei Di told the Modern Express newspaper.
