Tennis Properties Ltd. and the ATP announced today a series of broadcast agreements that significantly increase European TV exposure over the next three years for the Tennis Masters Series and the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup. The new agreements ensure significant airtime on prominent dedicated sports channels, while creating unique ‘windows’ that allow additional exposure to the broader audiences of terrestrial stations.

Mark Webster, Managing Director of TPL, said: ‘These new agreements will ensure that the Tennis Masters Series has the widest possible European exposure for tennis fans and will deliver increased value to our sponsors and commercial partners.’

Mark Miles, CEO of the ATP, said: ‘For such important events, better viewing access is essential. So we’re very pleased to see such dramatic improvements. In France alone, we will have more free to air coverage than ever before in the history of the ATP.’

Improved European broadcast exposure for the Tennis Masters Series in major markets will include:

In the UK, Sky Sports will be the exclusive live broadcast rights holder, with opportunities for additional terrestrial exposure available.

In France, Pathe Sport will screen extensive year-round coverage of all tournaments, while France 2 and 3 will show the semifinals and finals of every Masters Series event as well as extensive coverage of the Tennis Masters Series Paris;

In Italy, Stream will broadcast the entire series, and RAI will take highlights as well as the finals of the Tennis Masters Series Monte Carlo and Tennis Masters Series Roma;

In Germany, extensive coverage will be shown on Premiere World while daily highlights of each event, as well as the semifinal and final of the Tennis Masters Series Hamburg, will be broadcast on DSF;

Exposure for men’s tennis in Europe will dramatically increase with Eurosports’ broadcast of the Masters Cup and significant increases in its broadcast schedule for other men’s tournaments.

As exclusive rights holder, Eurosport’s TMC broadcasts will reach 54 countries in 18 languages.

Eurosport will cover all the matches of the Masters Cup, taking advantage of the editorial efforts already in place for coverage of three of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, US Open).

Eurosport will further expand coverage of the Masters Cup through sub-licensing agreements with terrestrial channels.

Eurosport coverage of ATP tennis will nearly double, going from 12 tournaments in 2001 to 20 in 2002.

Michel Masquelier, Senior Vice President of TWI, who negotiated the television rights on behalf of the Tennis Masters Series, said: ‘We have secured partnerships in each major European market for both terrestrial and cable broadcasters, the principle being that the terrestrial windows would bring news highlights and specific matches, such as semifinals and finals, to mass audiences while the dedicated sports channels will cover every match for our core audience.’

In a related story, exposure outside of Europe for the Tennis Masters Series and Tennis Masters Cup will also increase for 2002. ESPN/ESPN2, the primary US broadcast partner, has committed to a 12% increase in coverage for 2002. Broadcast coverage by ESPN International in South America and ESPN Star Sports in Asia are set for similar increases. Expanded US coverage, coupled with better broadcast times, will make tennis a lead-in to ESPN’s anchor SportsCenter broadcasts. The move follows a record-breaking year for ESPN’s tennis coverage where ratings rose by 21%.

For further information contact:

TPL – Jonathan Friend, Com. Exec. +44 (0) 208 392 4724, +44 (0) 7973 88 7571 GSM
ATP (Europe) – Nicola Arzani, Com. Director +377 607 934 4050 GSM
ATP (Australia) – Graeme Agars, VP Media Relations +61 (0) 428 820 811 GSM
TWI – Stephen Roberts, +44 1780 460 777
Eurosport – Isabelle Nguyen, Head of Press External Relations (33) 01 40 93 8142