Eurosport renews grip on Australian tennis

Discovery-owned Eurosport has renewed its hold on Australian Open tennis, securing broadcast and OTT rights to the championship across Europe until 2021.

The deal means that Eurosport will air the Australian Open across 50 European markets. The new deal, which begins from 2017, includines additional exclusive live rights to two Australian Open warm-up ATP tournaments, the World Tennis Challenge along with rights – exclusive from 2019 – to the Hopman Cup. In total, the new deal will result in around 300 hours of live coverage on Eurosport’s TV channels and, for the first time, live online coverage of available matches from each event as produced by Tennis Australia.

“The Australian Open is much more than just the first Grand Slam of the year. It marks the start of the global annual sporting calendar through four weeks of world class events during Australia’s summer of tennis. As such, we are delighted to have taken our relationship with Eurosport and the Discovery Group to a new level,” said Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley.

“Fans will now be able to follow in one place the exciting journey we take every year – from Brisbane and Perth, Sydney to Adelaide and culminating in Melbourne at the Australian Open. As viewing habits consolidate through multiple screens, compelling engagement through online platforms is at the heart of this new deal. We’ll deliver fans more and better content than ever before, both on and off the court, when and where they want it.”