WTA Signs TV Deal With beIN MEDIA GROUP
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The WTA has signed an exclusive five-year, multi-territory deal with television broadcaster beIN MEDIA GROUP. The agreement gives beIN broadcast rights for all WTA tournaments, including the 21 Premier events and the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, in over 30 territories worldwide including Spain, the USA, Australia and pan-regionally throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
“We are pleased to continue to provide our subscribers with the best international tennis tournaments. Since its creation, beIN SPORTS has broadcast the greatest sports competitions and the addition of the WTA Tour events further strengthens our promise to deliver the best content to our audiences,” said beIN’s deputy Chief Executive Yousef Al-Obaidly.
In addition to tennis, beIN, which is available on all major pay-TV platforms, holds the rights to the UEFA Champions League and RBS 6 Nations rugby. Starting in 2017 and running until 2021, beIN will hold the media rights for all WTA events in the agreed regions, covering all live matches, replays, highlights and the weekly WTA magazine shows.
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with beIN MEDIA GROUP across multiple regions. This will allow the WTA to take advantage of beIN SPORTS’ dominance in certain territories and their ambitious growth plan in others,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said.
The agreement ties in with the start of the WTA’s new partnership with leading digital sports content and media group, Perform, creating WTA Media, the tour’s dedicated media arm. The live media rights and production deal is worth $525m over 10 years (from 2017 to 2026), the largest in the history of women’s sports.
“Partnering with an aggressive multi-sport network, specifically beIN, allows us to introduce our product to a new fan base,” added WTA Media’s John Learing. “Their stable of internationally attractive sports properties, specifically in soccer and rugby will give us a chance to introduce ourselves to a wider base of different sports fans. The bottom line for our viewers is that beIN Sport is generally available in the basic tier and not just the sports package, this will not only mean drawing a larger audience but will also make it easier for fans to find us.”