Sinner, how tennis will be seen on television

Tennis, thanks to Jannik and his companions, has become a national-popular phenomenon in Italy. But on television it remains a product accessible to a few, as it has always been since the time of the legendary telechronache of Tommasi and Clerici. Every time a window opens on the clear, the listening explodes: the final of the Roland Garros between Sinner And Alcaraz recorded a 38% share and a peak of 7.2 million viewers, thanks to the diffusion on the nine. But evidently this is not enough to make the free offer of what has now become the second most followed in our country, after football. Indeed, in the future it will be even more complicated for enthusiasts to follow their racket idols. The tests of the Grand Slam are divided as follows: Australian Open (until 2031) and Roland Garros (until 2030) exclusively on Eurosport; Wimbledon (until 2030) exclusively on Sky; Us Open on Sky, in Simulcast with Supertennis. Considering that in a few days the Eurosport 1 and 2 channels will be off on the Sky platform, from next year the subscribers to the Pay TV will no longer be able to follow the first two Slam seasonal tournaments.

what happened

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The contract has not been renewed for Italy, expiring on July 1, between Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery for the rent for rent of the Eurosport channels, which were visible to Sky users, without aggravation of costs compared to the Sport package. A more damage for the public than for the Comcast issuer, who has already shown that he knows how to absorb both the loss of the main cake of the football Serie A and the shutdown of other third channels concentrating efforts on its products and on the diversification of the offer (Sky, however, transmits over 80 ATP and WTA tournaments). It will have been for this reason that, faced with the request of Warner Bros. Discovery to pay more for the rent, the counterparty retired from the negotiation table without giving an indicative. The fact that some Eurosport contents (the Olympics, the tour, the tour) are also partially transferred to Rai also played a role. Moreover, Warner Bros. Discorery would have liked to include the packet of the canals of the TV series (HBO) and the films in the interlocups, expiring at the end of 2024. For the United Kingdom, the agreement was found, for Italy and Germany not.

What changes

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In these same days, Sky has announced the extension of the contract for Wimbledon until 2030, due to a doubling of the investment, from 3 to 6 million per year for TV rights, and a monstrous coverage (11 channels). Last year an agreement was found with the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation with the consequent sharing of the US Open with Supertennis, the free Fitp channel that had purchased the rights of the American Slam until 2027 for 3 million per year. Australian Open and Roland Garros are, instead, by Warner Bros. Discovery. Where will they see? Eurosport 1 and 2 are already available on DAZN and TIM Vision platforms, as well as on Discovery+. It must be said that the showcase on Sky guarantees over 70% of the overall ratings. Warner Bros. Discovery will have to remedy it with a hull marketing campaigns. Temporary accesses will grow, i.e. the activation of monthly subscriptions in correspondence with the events of greatest interest. The content of Eurosport will be even more strategic for the launch of HBO Max, the new Streaming platform by Warner Bros. Discovery which will be launched in Italy in January 2026. The expectations of the American group are high, so much so that for the occasion the Portobello TV series of Marco Bellocchio will be distributed, the first original Italian production, dedicated to the Tortora case. TV series, movie and great tennis.