The Women’s Tennis Association and ESPN have agreed to a six-year deal through 2016, adding 150 live hours of women’s tennis per year to its coverage.
WTA, ESPN Sign Multi-Platform, Six-Year Agreement
The agreement completes the sports broadcasting company’s tennis coverage as one of the slates for coverage of major WTA events for ESPN3.
“ESPN has long served tennis fans in the US, and we are pleased to continue to partner with them to deliver enhanced coverage of world class women’s tennis across ESPN’s multiple platforms,” said Stacey Allaster, CEO of the WTA.
The new deal gives ESPN rights to the WTA season matches, the WTA Championship and premier events (including early round matches in the heart of the season).
This new coverage begins with a selection of Tuesday’s round robin matches of the 2011 WTA Championships in Istanbul. Both the semifinal and final matches will air as well.
“This new agreement with the WTA says a lot about the power of ESPN’s multi-platform scale and its ability to serve passionate tennis fans,” said Jason Bernstein, senior director of programming and acquisitions, ESPN. “We have a long history with professional tennis in our 32 years, and now we are slated to carry all the top-tier tennis events from around the world across our networks.”
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