WBD triples US French Open media rights value in blockbuster deal

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• WBD to pay around $65m per year for French Open, 2025-34, up from previous $24m total from NBC and Tennis Channel
• NBC uninterested in renewal after 42 years, seeing rights as loss-making amid pursuit of NBA rights
• IMG drummed up interest through US roadshow; ESPN keen before WBD bid

Warner Bros. Discovery will take over as the exclusive broadcaster of the French Open in the US after agreeing to nearly triple the annual media rights fees on the previous cycle.

WBD is set to pay $650m (€605m) for exclusive live rights to the tournament over 10 years, from 2025 till 2034, SportBusiness Media understands.

It is thought that media group NBCUniversal and specialist linear and digital service Tennis Channel, the previous rights-holders to the tournament, paid around $12m each per year in their previous respective deals.

SportBusiness Media understands that only Tennis Channel, and not NBC, bid to renew its rights.

It is thought that the new $65m annual fee does not include production costs, a significant additional expense. Previously, Tennis Channel produced all matches across the tournament for both itself and NBC. Tennis Channel’s annual $12m outlay also did not include production costs.

The French Tennis Federation (FFT) was advised on its US rights sales by the IMG agency. Previously, it had been advised by the Sportfive agency.

NBC has been a longstanding broadcaster of the French Open and has held the rights to the tournament every year but three since 1975. It last renewed its rights in 2012, in a deal which will expire at the end of this calendar year.

Tennis Channel has broadcast the French Open since 2007, holding co-exclusive rights with NBC in its only live grand slam deal with a cable and digital rights package. Until 2015, Tennis Channel sublicensed some matches to ESPN.

With Tennis Channel’s agreements, French Open rights in the US were bifurcated since 2007. Sources close to NBC say this was a “daily battle” between the broadcasters and one it was not looking to continue.

In 2021, NBC Sports expanded its French Open coverage, moving towards more streaming coverage, with Peacock — NBC’s OTT platform — exclusively showing middle weekend sessions, with the tournament becoming a key part of Peacock’s sports offering. By the end of both NBC and Tennis Channel’s agreements, both broadcasters had linear rights as well as streaming rights.

This year, Tennis Channel had more coverage throughout the tournament, with NBC and Peacock airing live coverage for the evening sessions of the first two days, the middle weekend and the singles finals. Tennis Channel and NBC both had one semi-final apiece for both the men’s and women’s singles.

WBD’s interest ‘infectious’

Both incumbent broadcasters were given an exclusive window to renew their rights. It is thought that only the Tennis Channel made an offer during that time.

Additionally, SportBusiness Media understands that no other broadcaster was involved in advanced talks with IMG and the FFT. Sources close to Disney-owned sports broadcaster ESPN, which holds rights in the US for the other three grand slams, say it was interested in acquiring the French Open but was never in formal talks.

ESPN is thought to have been keen to “round out” its grand slam coverage and the French Open “would have been perfect”, according to one source. The broadcaster had previously covered some of the French Open, buying rights directly from the FFT from 2003 until 2007, then sublicensing some matches from Tennis Channel until 2015. Ahead of the 2016 tournament, ESPN pulled back and Tennis Channel took over that inventory itself, adding an extra 60 hours of coverage from 2016.

IMG senior vice president Ed Mallaburn told SportBusiness Media that IMG felt confident it could add significant value for the FFT in the US market, leading to its response to the FFT’s request for proposals (RFP) in March 2022.

“It was a 10-plus year cycle, and so we started considering, analysing — what do we do in the US market?,” Jessica Chanderli, head of media rights sales for the FFT told SportBusiness Media.

“We’ve had conversations with IMG of course, for other territories. The interest in the US was there and the expertise was strong as we witnessed other deals through the office of Hillary [Mandel, IMG’s executive vice president, head of Americas]. And then we launched an RFP and we consulted the market and IMG made a proposal to us.”

François Quisfix, FFT director of media and production, added that a priority for the rights-holder was finding US market experts, which led to the decision to outsource to an agency as opposed to selling the rights in-house.

The negotiation period expired at the beginning of May and the new deal with WBD was finalised on Thursday of the final week of the tournament, on June 6.

IMG conducted an American roadshow after the exclusive negotiation period ended, but WBD became the clear front-runner, moving fast to secure a deal.

Mallaburn said: “They were such an engaged buyer. And it’s rare to see that in the current global landscape, someone who is so engergised by the property, so excited about the property and it was infectious for us to just feel that during the negotiation.”

Loss ‘not critical’ to Tennis Channel

The French Open was the only grand slam that Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Tennis Channel showed live, in addition to all ATP and WTA Tours tournaments.

Tennis Channel is thought likely to continue to offer coverage of the French Open as it does for the other grand slams — showing reruns and highlights, often at more advantageous time slots for American viewers.

Tennis Channel sublicenses its rights for the Australian Open and US Open from ESPN, but it is thought it will seek to strike any new French Open deal directly with the FFT, as it does with the All England Lawn Tennis Club for Wimbledon.

Tennis Channel was interested in renewing its portion of the rights for the upcoming cycle and made a bid during the exclusive negotiation period. However, with the FFT’s preference for a single broadcaster in the upcoming cycle — and WBD’s enthusiasm for the property — the Tennis Channel lost out.

Sources close to the Tennis Channel said that live grand slam rights were less imperative for the company compared to 2007. With a business model that allows the broadcaster to stream tennis year-round — given the multitude of tournaments across the sport in a year — it does not believe the French Open loss to be critical.

NBC pivots to NBA

SportBusiness Media understands NBC was not interested in renewing its rights, despite the French Open being a “staple” of NBC’s sports coverage. NBC is understood to have “never looked to continue the relationship”.

NBC last renewed its rights deal in 2012 until 2024, superseding the existing deal at the time which was set to expire in 2013. Including the 2024 tournament, NBC broadcast the French Open continuously for 42 years.

It is thought that a number of factors, including low viewership numbers, competition from the Tennis Channel for marquee matches during the tournament, and difficulties obtaining sponsors for its coverage, contributed to the decision.

Despite the enduring relationship, sources close to the broadcaster say the property was not profitable for NBC.

It is also thought that NBC felt that tournament sponsors did not prioritise the US market for additional advertising spend, reducing NBC’s ability to refinance its outlay.

However, both IMG and the FFT told SportBusiness Media that there is a strong demand within the ad market. The end of May and early June was also described as a “sweet spot” for television advertising in the US by another source, with tourism and cinema ad spend particularly strong at this time.

Chanderli added that the regular breaks during tennis matches, in between points, games and sets, offer broadcasters additional advertising windows which are especially advantageous in the US advertising market.

The French Open was the broadcaster’s only tennis property and sources close to NBC suggested that this contributed to the decision, as the broadcaster was not able to package the tournament with other rights.

This was combined with Comcast-owned NBC eyeing an acquisition for a package of NBA rights. Earlier this month NBC sealed NBA rights from 2025-26 to 2035-36 in a deal worth $2.5bn per year, though at the time of the withdrawal from French Open rights this agreement was “far from done”, in the words of one source.

WBD production ‘synergy’

While this is WBD’s first tennis property in the US, it holds French Open rights across more than 50 territories in Europe, which it renewed in 2022 until 2026. WBD-owned Eurosport has broadcast the French Open continuously since 1989. With its US deal, WBD has become the largest global broadcaster for the tournament.

Sources close to WBD say that Eurosport’s relationship with the tournament and the FFT was a factor in the deal. WBD’s deal in Europe will also help facilitate its US coverage as it seeks “synergy” in its production of the grand slam across its different markets. “[It was] good for us, because there might be some interesting links to have on-site in terms of production and development,” Chanderli told SportBusiness Media.

“It’s a big decision, changing partners after so many years. How many years has Tennis Channel been involved? And NBC? And so to have that comfort, that [WBD and Eurosport] were part of the same family, that makes making those big decisions even easier, given the way WBD approached the process,” Mallaburn added.

Accessibility and ‘storytelling’

Going forward, WBD aims to make French Open matches available via its channels TNT, Tru TV and TBS, and will aim to make the tournament highly accessible for audiences. WBD will feature live matches primarily on TNT, with additional live coverage across TBS and truTV. The latter will also have all-day studio, match and whiparound coverage, while all live matches will also be shown on Max, WBD’s newly rebranded OTT streaming service. Matches which are shown live on the broadcaster’s linear channels will also be simulcast on Max.

However, it is also focused on adopting a storytelling approach via its coverage, making it different from both NBC and Tennis Channel’s previous coverage but also carving out a separate approach from Eurosport.

Mandel said: “WBD are known for their storytelling. They’re known for the level and quality of production. What they’ve done with the NBA is Emmy award-winning. Their studio show has set the gold standard in the US without a doubt.”

WBD is also aiming to use its online sports media company Bleacher Report to supplement its studio and live coverage.

According to Chanderli, having a single broadcaster was important to the FFT for the upcoming cycle as it allows a more coherent broadcasting approach. “It’s one brand, which is really quite new for us. We were with Tennis Channel and NBC with segmented windows, and having one partner is great to work with for this new chapter, very exciting,” she said.

“[WBD] will be doing a lot throughout all of those premium platforms and they each deliver to different audiences, as well. So, it’s very coherent for us to go with them and have them engaged, as well, is great for us.”

WBD’s acquisitions

The French Open is not the only property WBD has acquired in recent months. In fact, it comes at a time of a considerable wave of acquisitions by the broadcaster around the loss of its domestic NBA rights, which it is challenging.

The company announced a multi-year agreement for Mountain West Conference college football games in early July, as well as a college basketball deal with the Big East in a six-year agreement with Fox and NBC. In May, TNT Sports also sublicensed rights from ESPN to exclusively show two first-round College Football Playoff games for each of the next five college football seasons, as well as two quarterfinal games, as the company grows its college sports offerings.

Additionally, the French Open is played at an advantageous time for the company — in late May — during the offseason for both college football and basketball.

Despite its strong push to acquire the French Open, it is unlikely at this point that WBD will try to go after the rest of the grand slams, SportBusiness Media understands. Disney-owned ESPN holds an eight-year deal for the Australian Open expiring in 2031, a nine-year deal for Wimbledon expiring in 2035 and an 11-year US Open deal up for renewal next year.

At $65m per year, the French Open now sits as the third-highest grand slam in the US in terms of media value. Disney’s latest deal for Wimbledon rights, covering 2024 to 2035, is valued in the region of $95m per year, up from around $45m per year from 2012 to 2023. US Open domestic rights are valued at around $75m per year. The Australian Open comes in at around $18m, in part due to a busy American sports period at the beginning of the calendar year as well as time zone challenges.

SportBusiness Media understands that, when the time comes, ESPN will look to renew all of its grand slams, which it considers to be growing properties in the market. ESPN will also show the NCAA DI team tennis championships as part of its eight-year NCAA media rights deal.

The ATP and WTA Tours are both on Tennis Channel in long-term deals which are understood to span until around the end of the decade, with the ATP Tour also on Tennis TV, ATP Media’s OTT subscription service.

Venu

ESPN, WBD and media group Fox are set to launch their joint venture streaming service, Venu, next month. The offering will be available on a new app and will combine each company’s sports-airing networks and ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service, ESPN+. WBD’s French Open deal means that all four grand slams will be available on Venu when it is launched.

Sources close to WBD suggest that the expected launch of Venu brings another “value point” to the deal, as it will carry TNT, TBS and Tru TV.

However, it is unclear at this point whether the service will cover Max, or just WBD’s linear channels.

American tennis players have been on the rise in recent years, with US No. 1 and world No. 2 Coco Gauff reaching the finals of the tournament in 2022. Gauff won the French Open women’s doubles title this year alongside Czech partner Kateřina Siniaková.