International sports broadcaster Eurosport has strengthened its position in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia by securing exclusive rights to men’s tennis organisation the ATP Tour in a series of new multi-year deals.
The agreements, which commence in Romania and Hungary in 2020 and the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2021, include 41 ATP Tour events in each of the four markets.
Eurosport will screen comprehensive ATP Tour coverage in all markets with nine ATP Masters 1000 events, 13 ATP 500 events and 17 ATP 250 events, the end-of-season ATP Finals tournament, as well as the Next Gen ATP Finals.
On top of the new deals, Eurosport has added to its existing agreement for ATP rights in France by adding year-round coverage in Belgium and will screen 37 World Tour tournaments per year from January 2020 until the end of 2023 on a non-exclusive basis.
The new deals build on Eurosport’s existing ‘Home of Tennis’ positioning in France, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden, where multi-year ATP Tour agreements have already been secured, adding to Eurosport’s extensive grand slam coverage in these markets and across Europe. Through the deals, Eurosport retains full exclusivity for all tournaments hosted outside of the individual markets.
Laurent Prud’homme, senior vice-president of rights acquisitions and syndication for Eurosport, said: “As broadcast partner of the ATP and ATP Media in 11 European markets now, we look forward to maximising the scale of our partnership to super-serve tennis fans locally on all Eurosport platforms and devices.”
Eurosport’s ATP Tour coverage in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden starts with the Next Gen ATP Finals, held from November 5-9 in Milan, Italy.