SuperTennis, the Italian digital free-to-air (FTA) and satellite tennis channel, has secured exclusive rights in the country to the US Open grand slam tennis tournament through a multi-year deal starting with this year’s edition in August.
The agreement, brokered by international sports marketing agency IMG, was struck between the US Tennis Association (USTA) governing body and Sportcast, the commercial arm of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) that manages SuperTennis.
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SuperTennis will broadcast the tournament’s best daily matches both live and delayed on its linear channel, while its SuperTenniX digital platform will host all matches live during the tournament.
FITP president Angelo Binaghi said: “The FITP continues its development policy through the promotion of great tennis in our country, and with the founding of the SuperTennis channel 15 years ago, we saw the sport of tennis brought back to our dedicated audience.
“Alongside providing extensive coverage of Wimbledon, we are now proud to make another tennis grand slam tournament available to all Italian tennis fans.
“The US Open is a tournament that has recently provided some incredible stories, including the historic 2015 US Open finals won by Flavia Pennetta over Roberta Vinci. The level of access that SuperTennis can provide to its viewers will only contribute to the further promotion of tennis and the increased support of our national tennis players.”
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By GlobalDataIt will be the first time in 34 years the tournament has been available FTA in Italy, having previously been broadcast by pay-television broadcasters Sky Italia and Eurosport.
SuperTennis has aired matches from fellow grand slam tournament Wimbledon for the past two years as part of its content-sharing deal with rightsholder Sky Italia.
That deal, which covered 2021 and 2022, saw the channel gain rights to show one match per day from Wimbledon, including the finals of the men’s and women’s singles, as well as several events from the men’s ATP Tour, to which Sky Italia also holds rights.
Kirsten Corio, the USTA’s chief commercial officer, said: “SuperTennis has proven to be a trusted home for the sport in Italy. With a number of Italian players at the forefront of this rising generation of talent, it’s an exciting time to begin this new partnership and we look forward to working with SuperTennis to continue growing the audience for the US Open.”
The deal comes a month after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the media giant and parent company of Eurosport, agreed a five-year broadcast rights extension for the US Open covering 45 markets across Europe until the end of the 2027 season.
The extended agreement includes coverage for every market in Europe except the UK and Ireland, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
In December, Sky Sports announced a new five-year partnership with the USTA for rights to the tournament covering the UK and Ireland beginning with this year’s tournament.
This year’s US Open at Flushing Meadows is scheduled to run from August 28 to September 10.
Image: Al Bello/Getty Images
