10 March 2006, London – Tennis Properties Ltd, the commercial arm and host broadcaster of the ATP Masters Series, has entered a three-year partnership with digital rights company, Premium TV, to exploit and market its worldwide digital media rights.
Under the terms of the agreement, Premium TV will use its proprietary technology to deliver exclusive content from all ATP Masters Series events and the prestigious season ending Tennis Masters Cup, to a new broadband subscription service, available at http://www.atpmastersseries.tv/.
Viewers will be able to watch highlights of matches featuring the world’s top ranked players, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt, from the ten largest tournaments in men’s tennis. The 2006 season opens with the Pacific Life Open Indian Wells where, to launch the service, subscribers will be able to enjoy footage of the tournament for free.
The service, which will support TPL’s regular broadcast output, will also offer tennis fans a number of additional exclusive features, including interviews with the top stars, behind-the-scenes tournament features and access to an extensive searchable video archive (SVA) embedded within the site. The SVA will allow viewers to relive many of the greatest matches and moments from the ATP Masters Series’ history.
Under the contract, Premium TV will act alongside TPL’s existing partner, TWI, to syndicate all ATP Masters Series rights across broadband and mobile platforms.
The ATP Masters Series is currently broadcast by more than 55 broadcasters to over 200 million viewers worldwide and TPL will be working with Premium to create a number of new broadband and mobile partnerships that will increase and complement this significant exposure.
Premium TV’s proven track record of handling digital rights for major sports organisations, such as FLi (Football League Interactive) and World Rally Championship (WRC) was a key criteria for TPL’s decision. The company’s expertise in managing digital rights, coupled with its DRM technology, means that none of the digital rights deals brokered around the world will conflict with any of TPL’s existing broadcast deals.
Oliver Slipper, CEO, Premium TV comments: “The ATP Masters Series is a huge addition to our sports portfolio, and underlines our position in managing multi-platform digital rights for global sports organisations.
“PTV’s in-house technology means that consumers can enjoy exclusive ATP Masters Series content from the comfort of their PC. And our understanding of sports organisation’s relationships with broadcasters means we can ensure TPL generates the maximum amount of revenue from its digital content.”
Mark Webster, CEO Tennis Properties Ltd:
“TPL is the world’s most prolific producer of tennis TV – we generate more than 1300 hours of live coverage every year, plus many more hours of interviews and features –and Premium TV are hugely experienced at exploiting this content in the new-media market, so this partnership makes perfect sense.”
About Premium TV:
Premium TV is a specialist digital rights company. It generates revenue for sports, entertainment and publishing companies through the production, delivery, management and syndication of broadband and mobile content. Premium TV hosts and manages Internet sites, broadband subscription products and mobile services for entertainment and sports companies. Each year PTV streams over 6,000 live events for its clients, manages over 100,000 paying broadband subscribers for its clients and generates over £20 million of digital rights revenue for the sports industry.
About TPL:
Tennis Properties Ltd is wholly and equally owned by the nine tournaments of the ATP Masters Series (Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Hamburg, Toronto, Cincinnati, Madrid and Paris) and the ATP (the governing body of men’s professional tennis). TPL owns, manages and exploits the media rights for the events as well as the Tennis Masters Cup, and is also the host producer at each event, producing more than 1300 hours of live coverage which is distributed to more than 55 broadcasters and seen by a cumulative global audience in excess of 200 million.
Press information:
If you’d like more information or would like to speak to Premium TV about the service, please contact:
Paul Randall / Kate Hartley
Carrot Communications
Tel: 020 7386 4860
paul.randall@carrotcomms.co.uk / kate.hartley@carrotcomms.co.uk