Starting in 2025, TNT Sports will serve as the French Open’s (also known as Roland-Garros) official American broadcaster, the business said on Tuesday.
According to a person familiar with the situation, the entertainment business agreed to pay the French Tennis Federation an average of roughly $65 million annually for a 10-year contract.
With the agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery will become the Grand Slam competition’s biggest worldwide broadcast partner. This year, the tournament drew 675,000 viewers. According to a news release, Eurosport, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, has been airing the French Open to 55 nations outside of the United States since 1989.
TNT Sports Chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser stated, “Roland-Garros perfectly aligns with our global sports strategy and our commitment to adding premium live sports content to our TNT Sports portfolio. We look forward to serving fans with a best-in-class content experience and providing them with direct access to more live Roland-Garros coverage than ever before,”
The matches will be streamed on the company’s streaming platform Max, as well as live broadcast on TNT, TBS, and TruTV, in accordance with the agreement.
Prior to this agreement, Comcast’s NBC, Peacock, a streaming service, and the Tennis Channel had a sublicensing arrangement to broadcast the tournament in the United States.
TNT Sports declared that it will be present at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, with studio and team announcements from various locations. More information about the broadcast will be revealed in the upcoming months.
The announcement coincides with the introduction of Venu, a combined sports streaming service by Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Disney’s ESPN. When Venu launches in the autumn, it will have TNT, TBS, and TruTV among its channel options.
The company’s desire to introduce live sports, provided the cost justifies the investment, is further supported by the addition of the French Open. The National Hockey League, NASCAR, U.S. Soccer, the College Football Playoffs and now the French Open have all been added to TNT Sports’ portfolio in the last three years.
Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA are currently negotiating to expand their partnership so that live game broadcasting will be possible. Warner Bros. Discovery is concentrating on a different package of games, while NBCUniversal has made an offer for the bundle of games TNT Sports has been carrying, as CNBC previously reported.
Due to the aftermath of the Hollywood writers’ strike and industry-wide cost-cutting initiatives, such as those implemented at Warner Bros. Discovery, media conglomerates have been primarily depending on sports to attract larger viewership and more advertising revenue.