By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Tuesday, June 11, 2024
For tennis watchers in the United States, they will have to say “au revoir” to a long time broadcaster of Roland Garros as a new entity takes over coverage next year.
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Warner Bros. Discovery TNT Sports will become the exclusive distributor of Roland Garros in the United States starting in 2025. The entertainment conglomerate made the announcement after signing a 10-year contract with the French Tennis Federation. The deal will amount to around $65 million per year according to CNBC.
Tennis, and specifically Roland Garros, is nothing new for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Through its Eurosport channel, the company has broadcast the second major of the year in Paris to 55 countries outside the U.S. since 1989.
“Roland-Garros perfectly aligns with our global sports strategy and our commitment to adding premium live sports content to our TNT Sports portfolio. We look forward to serving fans with a best-in-class content experience and providing them with direct access to more live Roland-Garros coverage than ever before,” TNT Sports Chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser said in a press release.
The new deal ends the longtime coverage of the tournament provided by legacy network NBC since 1983, except for a three year break. Tennis Channel, which showed the tournament through a sublicensing deal with NBC, is not included in this new contract. It remains to be seen if Tennis Channel will cover Roland Garros at all in the future.
Despite NBC’s history with the event, many fans over the years have complained about the network’s coverage. Those complaints started with tape delay coverage by NBC back in the 1980s and 1990s that often showed finished matches, or match highlights, well after the actual match had been completed.
This year, NBC coverage, especially of any night matches, would often switch over to its sister streaming network, Peacock, a network that requires a fee to watch its coverage.
Those complaints reached a crescendo on social media after the men’s singles final. NBC announcers stated that the trophy ceremony would air on Peacock, but it ultimately did not.
Next year, TNT Sports will have an on-air presence, including with announcing teams in studio and inside the Roland Garros stadium, with more details to follow soon.
Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty