UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has extended its deal for the rights to the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club for another five years, from 2013 to 2017, in a deal with the Lawn Tennis Association.
The BBC will show at least twenty hours of live coverage across each week-long tournament.
The deal was announced as Andy Murray, the British number one and world number four men’s tennis player, made a commitment to compete at Queens’s for the five years from 2012 to 2016.
Chris Kermode, the director of the tournament, said: “For Andy to commit to the Aegon Championship for the next five years on the same day as we announce the extension of our host broadcaster agreement with the BBC for the same duration is fantastic news for the tournament.”
Murray has won the tournament twice, first in 2009 and then again last year, and his presence is a major attraction for the BBC.
The broadcaster has shown the championship since 1979. The tournament is played in the weeks leading up to the Wimbledon tennis championships, and is traditionally used by players as a warm-up for the latter.