TNT Sports signs 10-year deal to hold the French Open starting next year

Warner Bros. Discovery and the French Tennis Federation made official on Tuesday what had been revealed over the weekend: the French Open will be broadcast on TNT Sports in the United States starting next year.

TV sportscaster Noah Eagle announced at the end of NBC’s coverage on Sunday that TNT Sports would be the tournament’s new home.

The 10-year deal will average $65 million a year, a considerable jump from the $12 million a year the French Tennis Federation received from NBC and the Tennis Channel for U.S. rights.

NBC first broadcast the second leg of the tennis Grand Slam in 1975, and has done so continuously since 1983.

“As soon as it became clear that the rights were available, we quickly jumped in and went to Paris and explained the vision of what we wanted to do with the tournament,” said TNT Sports President and CEO Luis Silberwasser. “We plan a vision where we don’t just talk to tennis fans, but we want to talk to sports fans in general. I don’t want to say it was done quickly, but it was done in a relatively short period of time.”

TNT will be the lead network for coverage, with additional games airing on TBS and truTV. All tournament matches will also be streamed on Max. Highlights and other content will also be available on Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and HighlightHER.

The new contract puts the French Open on par with ESPN’s coverage of the other three Grand Slam tournaments. Every all-court match from the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open is on the ESPN+ streaming service. ESPN also airs coverage of all three on multiple channels during select windows.

French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton said in a statement that the new agreement “will allow the federation to ensure maximum exposure for Roland Garros in the US and help to further promote the tournament.”

Warner Bros. Discovery already had a history with the French Open. It has broadcast the tournament on Eurosport since 1989 and distributed coverage to 55 countries outside the United States.

TNT would likely begin promoting the French Open during coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in March, and continue through coverage of the NHL and NBA playoffs.

TNT will broadcast two College Football Playoff games on Dec. 21 and will have four NASCAR races starting next year, but its future in the NBA remains up in the air as discussions continue with the league over a new rights deal, which would begin in 2025. -26 season.

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