BBC picks up Ultimate Tennis Showdown 2 rights

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has acquired rights to the finals of the second edition of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, the innovative event created by tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou, SportBusiness understands.

The deal has been struck ahead of the event this Sunday. ‘UTS2’ began last weekend and features the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Richard Gasquet and Alexander Zverev.

Worldwide broadcast deals for the event are being negotiated by In&OutStories, the Paris-based media rights consultancy launched by former Eurosport executive Arnaud Simon. In&OutStories is also responsible for the broadcast production set-up and advising on the content distribution strategy.

Last week, pay-television broadcaster Star India acquired rights to the second edition of the event.

UTS launched during the hiatus in the professional tennis season as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has introduced various innovations such as coaching time outs, coaches wearing microphones and matches divided into 12-minute quarters.

Broadcast coverage in over 100 countries was secured for the semi-finals and final of the first event, UTS1.