There is a big bonus for tennis fans across the UK, with a new channel committed to showing live tennis on free-to-air television. Freesports (Freeview Channel 95,) made a deal to show twenty-six ATP 250 tournaments.
The deal includes every 250 tournament whose rights are not owned by Eurosport. The current deal means that the Moselle Open this week is being shown on free-to-air television in the UK for the first time.
The rights to tennis tournaments outside of some of the grand slams have largely been dominated by subscription based services such as Sky Sports over the past twenty years.
UK rules stipulate that sports that are heavily in the public interest must be available to view on free-to-air television. The BBC has owned the rights to Wimbledon for many years, and hold the rights to the latter stages of the Australian Open, including both the Men’s and Women’s finals and one semi-final. ITV currently own the rights to the French Open.
Sky Sports dropped the US Open last year after twenty-five years, citing the growing cost of Premier League football commitments. The US Open is currently shown on Eurosport. The Masters 1000s, 500 series, and WTA Tour are currently split between a number of broadcasters including Sky, BT Sport, and TennisTV.
