Tennis Channel Extends French Open Pay TV Rights

By R. Thomas Umstead
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Weeks after being bought by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Tennis Channel Monday said it has secured all pay-TV rights to the upcoming Roland Garros tournament, better known as the French Open.

The network will now offer 80% of all live, televised Roland Garros competition, which begins May 22, after it added match blocks that it had sublicensed to ESPN for the first nine years of its rights agreement with the tournament, according to network officials. 

With the deal, which runs through 2023, the channel will increase its coverage of the Grand Slam tournament by 50 hours to 110 beginning this May.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.