The organizers of tennis’ iconic French Open grand slam in Paris have extended the tournament’s domestic broadcast rights agreements, with public service network France Televisions and streaming heavyweight Amazon Prime Video until 2027.
The four-year renewal, announced yesterday (March 30), comes on top of the pair’s existing coverage deal for the clay-court tournament, set to expire after this year’s edition of the Roland Garros event in late May and early June.
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The present agreement between both rightsholders and the French Tennis Federation (FFT) was struck in 2019 and came into effect for the 2021 French Open.
The new deal will see France TV offer viewers live and free-to-air coverage of all daytime matches throughout the tournament, including qualifying fixtures, from all of the venue’s courts.
This coverage will be split between its France 1, France 2, France 3, and France 4 channels, while a multi-court offer will also be available on the broadcaster’s digital platform.
Prime Video, meanwhile, will exclusively cover the premier match each evening for the tournament’s initial 11 days. Last year, Amazon only held exclusive rights to 10 primetime matches.
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By GlobalDataThe two rightsholders will then come together to co-broadcast all action from the semi-finals onwards (ladies’ and men’s singles, ladies’ and men’s doubles, and mixed doubles) as the tournament draws to a close.
The renewal sees the coverage split from the 2021-23 deal altered. In that agreement, France TV did not cover matches played on the Simonne-Mathieu court at all, with those shown by Prime Video, whereas the new arrangement splits the rights based on the time of day.
The TV production element for the tournament will continue to be provided by the FFT, meanwhile, “in order to offer the two French broadcasters and the 170 international broadcasters production that meets the highest quality standards.”
Gilles Moretton, the FFT’s president, said: “This new agreement will allow the FFT to increase the exposure of the Roland Garros tournament, broaden its audience, reach a new audience and give them the means to continue the promotion and development of tennis in France.
“This programming, with all the matches broadcast in the day on France Televisions and those of the evening sessions on Prime Video, promises to be very clear for viewers and should thus meet their expectations.”
Delphine Ernotte Cunci, director of France TV, commented: “I am delighted with this important agreement with the French Tennis Federation. It will make it possible to offer all French people, free and open access, and more comprehensive coverage of the tournament.
“In a context of heightened global competition for sports rights, I am proud that public television can bring this major sporting event to as many people as possible."
Alex Green, Prime Video’s European director of sports, added: “We are delighted to collaborate with the FFT so that the evening sessions become an essential event to follow in France. With an offer including even more flagship matches from 2024, we want to offer the best possible experience to our members.”
Elsewhere in Europe, the tournament is covered by pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport until after the 2026 edition. A five-year deal to that effect was sealed in June 2021.
Last week, meanwhile, the Shinai Sports Chinese streaming platform, acquired exclusive rights to the tournament until 2025.
This year’s French Open will take place between May 28 and June 11.
