By Tennis Now | Tuesday October 13, 2020
Tennis Channel and the ATP have inked a multiyear television and digital rights deal that will make the network the exclusive U.S. television home of the majority of ATP Tour events. The channel will be the sole American broadcaster of all nine ATP Masters 1000 events, with ESPN stepping away from its coverage at Indian Wells and the US Open Series.
In total, the agreement gives Tennis Channel exclusive, live television rights to all nine ATP Masters 1000 events, all 13 ATP 500s and 16 of the ATP 250 tournaments, as well as the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
“Tennis Channel and ATP Media have worked tirelessly for nearly two decades to expand the daily TV, streaming and on-demand coverage of this prolific sport across all popular platforms, and in doing so are making tennis competitive once again with other major sports in the U.S.,” said Ken Solomon, president, Tennis Channel. “Our combined work with parent Sinclair Broadcast Group has made Tennis Channel America’s fastest growing network for the past two years, allowing millions of returning and new fans to enjoy the ATP’s Tour’s scale and quality, which are unmatched in all of professional sports.”
Tennis Channel and the ATP Tour and ATP Media have been media partners since the network’s launch in 2003, working together to elevate the sport. “Tennis Channel’s continuing partnership provides a compelling media model – a dedicated national television network complemented by a tennis dedicated streaming service and supported by robust original tennis content seamlessly integrated across all platforms – has greatly elevated the awareness and popularity of our sport for players, tournaments, fans and the ATP Tour,” said Mark Webster, chief executive officer, ATP Media.
Because of this agreement, the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), Miami Open presented by Itau (Miami), Rogers Cup (Toronto/Montreal) and Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati) will join all of the other ATP Masters 1000 events, which have been covered by Tennis Channel for years.