Jiostar, the heavyweight Indian media and entertainment group, has secured rights in India to broadcast the US Open tennis grand slam until the 2030 edition.
The deal was brokered by IMG, the US Tennis Association (USTA) governing body’s media rights agency, and will see all matches during the tournament in New York shown via Jiostar’s Star Sports Network linear channel and JioHotstar streaming service.
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Jiostar has said it plans to enhance its coverage through features such as multi-language commentary and behind-the-scenes content.
Jiostar replaces Sony Pictures Network, which aired the tournament from 2022 to 2024. Before that, Disney Star, now merged into Jiostar, held the US Open rights from 2017 to 2021.
Harry Griffith, head of international acquisitions and syndication at Jiostar, has said: “We are thrilled to add the US Open to our expanding portfolio of world-class sporting events. This association with the USTA deepens the range of premier global sports content available to fans on our platforms.
“With the US Open, JioStar is now the home of two of the four prestigious Grand Slams, offering year-round tennis coverage and reaffirming our commitment to delivering top-tier live action to every corner of the country.”
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By GlobalDataAlong with the US Open, Jiostar holds rights to the prestigious Wimbledon Championships grand slam, as well as other high-profile sports offerings, including International Cricket Council events, matches featuring India’s national cricket teams, the top-tier Premier League and Women’s Premier League T20 cricket competitions, English soccer’s top-tier Premier League, and the Pro Kabaddi League.
In terms of current media rights agreements covering the New York event, sports broadcasting heavyweight ESPN covers the tournament across the US, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean, via a long-term contract running through the 2037 edition, starting next year (this domestic element represents the expansion part of this latest deal).
Other notable broadcasters set to cover this year's championships include heavyweight Sky (UK, Italy, Germany), Warner Bros. Discovery across Europe as a whole, BeIN Sports across the Middle East and North Africa, and Eclat in 15 Asian territories.
This year’s US Open, running from August 24 to September 7, is set to feature a new format for its mixed doubles championship, with 16 teams competing for a prize of $1 million.
The draw includes several high-profile pairings, including Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, Jannik Sinner with Emma Navarro, Iga Swiatek with Casper Rudd, and Novak Djokovic with Danilovic.
As tennis has grown in recent years, so too has the US Open, which in 2024 attracted a record attendance of over one million fans for the first time.
The 1,048,669 total over three weeks marks an 8% increase over 2023, itself a record-breaking year, while attendance for the two weeks of 2024’s main draw reached a new high of 832,640.
This made the 2024 championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center the first to surpass the seven-figure mark.
The 2024 edition was the first to feature a seven-day US Open Fan Week, which drew over 219,000 fans, offering signature events and activities each day and night of the week.
A year prior, in 2023, a record TV audience was measured, with 3.4 million viewers on ESPN tuning in to watch US star Coco Gauff's maiden US Open victory, he most-watched women’s final of all time on major sports broadcaster ESPN.
The men’s final that year, a record-setting victory for Novak Djokovic, drew 2.3 million viewers, which was the most-watched men’s final since 2019.
Although the 2024 edition fared less well, with the men’s final drawing 1.7 million viewers and the women’s final 1.8 million, a carriage dispute between ESPN owner Disney and cable TV service DirecTV resulted in the pay-TV sports channel being pulled from DirecTV during the final week of the tournament, adversely affecting viewership.
