Sky Secure US Open Tennis Rights. ATP and WTA Could Follow
Sky Sports may have missed out on the World Cup, but the UK and Ireland’s predominant subscription television service has scored a goal by signing a new five-year partnership with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to televise the US Open Championships.
Current world number one, Carlos Alcaraz, won the US Open in 2022. ©GettyImages
Welcoming tennis back to Sky Sports and reaffirming the broadcaster as the home of live sport in the UK and Ireland, the new agreement will begin with the 2023 US Open at Flushing Meadows. The competition will start on August 28th. Sky Sports will hold exclusive broadcast rights up to and including the 2027 event.
The broadcaster says it will have access to all individual court feeds, broadcasting a minimum of 135 hours of competition throughout the two-week Grand Slam tournament. “Across Sky Sports’ linear channels and on Sky Sports digital and social channels, extensive coverage will provide content for both existing tennis fans and new audiences,” said the company when announcing the news.
Technology to Show What US Open Offers
The agreement includes coverage of both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments, alongside respective Double’s, Mixed Doubles, Juniors, and Wheelchair competitions. And the partnership comes at a time when British tennis has good momentum, with former US Open Champion Emma Raducanu and the Billie Jean Cup team leading the way in women’s tennis.
Additionally, Alfie Hewett took the 2022 US Open Wheelchair singles title, and Cameron Norrie, Andy Murray, Jack Draper, and Daniel Evans all enjoyed success at Flushing Meadows last year.
“Both the USTA and Sky Sports share the joint ambition to deliver world-class live coverage, using innovative technology to show the breadth of what the US Open has to offer, and engaging new and younger audiences in the sport,” a joint press release declared.
Channel 4 Hits Them for Six
The 2023 US Open forms part of an impressive line-up of live sporting events on Sky Sports in 2023. The list includes the Formula 1 season, Premier League, WSL, EFL and SPFL, Men’s and Women’s Ashes and Cricket World Cups, Ryder Cup, Masters, The Open, The Hundred, BOXXER fights, England Netball, NFL, and many more sports.
2023 is not a T20 World Cup year but in 2022 – in a partnership between Sky and Channel 4 to make a key sporting moment available to the nation – England’s final victory over Pakistan was shown on free-to-air television.
Sky, in allowing Channel 4 to broadcast its T20 World Cup final coverage, contributed to a combined average viewing audience of 2.27 million and a 3.19 million peak audience. Sky’s channels (Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Main Event, and Sky Sports Cricket) averaged a total of 1.19 million viewers, while Channel 4 drew 1.09 million. This made it the game the most viewed T20 match (in the UK) since comparable records began in 2015.
It was not the first time Sky and Channel 4 acted as bedfellows. The 40-year-old British television station also broadcast England’s 2019 Cricket World Cup victory over New Zealand and the final race of the 2021 Formula 1 Championship in Abu Dhabi. It was controversially won by Max Verstappen.
Amazon to Play the Drop Shot?
In September 2021, Channel 4 also took a piggyback from another broadcast platform, Amazon Prime. In a last-minute deal, the terrestrial broadcaster gained permission to relay the streaming giant’s feed of the Woman’s US Open tennis final won by the 18-year-old Brit, Emma Raducanu.
Exclusive: Amazon Prime have lost the rights to broadcast the US Open from 2023 onwards.
Sky Sports set to make a return to tennis, with ATP and WTA contracts also up for grabs from the start of 2024. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/emma-raducanu-factor-entices-sky-to-seize-us-open-from-amazon-50h9769wb?region=global
— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) April 1, 2022
Amazon Prime took over the rights to broadcast the US Open in 2018. Sky Sports has previously had a long relationship with the USTA and were partners for 25 years between 1991 and 2015.
But now, according to a story in The Times, Amazon Prime Video has decided against making a tender for the ATP and WTA once its current contract ends. From 2024 onwards, both could also join Sky Sports. The respected newspaper speculates the move may lead to the formation of a dedicated Sky Sports Tennis channel.
