Originally Posted by LOSG:
“Becker has joined for the remainder of the week. I wonder how this came about, I thought he worked for another broadcaster for the us open.
I think if Sky wanted the rights the French Open they would have taken them already. I would however like to see it happen.”
Eurosport lost the rights apparently. And I'm sure Sky would have picked it up before, if given the chance. Why show all the clay masters building up to it, and then not the main event itself.
Quote:
“Roland-Garros tennis open’s European TV rights for the 2012-2016 period have been attributed to agency MP & Silva, French Tennis Federation, FFT, has announced.
The European TV rights to the tennis tournament, whose price amounts to €15 million a year, have hitherto been owned by pan-European channel Eurosport.
Created in 2004, MP & Silva specialises with the management and distribution of sport TV rights. It also owns the rights to Italian football championship, and to English Premier League football in a number of territories.
The FFT decision is a blow to the EBU, the consortium of European broadcasters led by Eurosport, whose major argument is to reach more than 120 million households.
TV rights remain the main source of cash for tennis open Roland-Garros, representing 33.5% of the whole revenues and €47.5 million.
90 channels are currently broadcasting 6500 hours of matches into 214 countries to some 3 billion viewers.
================================================== ==================
MP & Silva has snapped up the European broadcast distribution rights to the French Open International Tennis Championships at Roland Garros in a five-year agreement.
The international sports media agency has replaced the European Broadcasting Union in a deal that will run from the 2012 edition through to 2016. This year’s French Open is set to conclude this weekend. The contract was signed with Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) and marks a “new distribution strategy”, according to MP & Silva.
The new approach will see the agency undertake an individual territory-by-territory distribution strategy in key territories across Europe. A successful market-by-market approach such as this has been demonstrated by other top-tier rights properties such as Wimbledon and UEFA Euro 2008.
“Roland Garros is one of the most important international sporting events in the world and we are extremely honoured to be given this opportunity to work closely with the FFT,” said MP & Silva CEO Andrea Radrizzani. “We believe that this is a historical moment for Roland Garros.”
Radrizzani added: “Now is the perfect time to engage more fully with the key markets of Europe and to examine new opportunities. At the same time, our strategy envisages working with some of the federation’s long-term incumbent partners, so we are offering continuity, as well as change. We believe that together, we will significantly enhance the positioning and value of Roland Garros.””