by Andy Schooler
Fans of men’s tennis will need to sign up to Amazon’s live streaming service from 2019 onwards if they want to watch the ATP World Tour’s biggest events.
Amazon Prime Video have been awarded the ATP’s distribution rights in the UK and Ireland from 2019 to 2023. They will take over from Sky Sports, whose current deal ends in 12 months’ time.
It is a landmark deal for sports rights in the UK with tennis becoming the first mainstream sport not to choose an established television broadcaster to promote its product.
Digital technology advances, including the improvement in broadband services, now allows such a move to take place. It is designed to appeal to a younger audience, although some fans in remote areas of the country will now struggle to watch live tennis.
The five-year contract, the duration of which is likely to see the retirement of the so-called Big Four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, includes 37 of the 64 ATP World Tour tournaments. The nine Masters 1000 events are among them.
Amazon will also show the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, currently being staged at London’s O2 Arena, although the BBC will continue to broadcast a selection of matches on free-to-air terrestrial TV.
The Amazon/BBC share will also occur for the Queen’s Club Championships and the Eastbourne International - and that element of the deal will begin in 2018. Those two English events have also been shown by Eurosport in recent years, but they, like Sky Sports, will lose their rights.
Amazon will also have coverage of 12 other 500-level events, 12 other 250-level tournaments and the NextGen ATP Finals, the season-ending event for players aged 21 and under.
On top of live coverage, subscribers will be able to watch all completed matches on demand, as well as highlights and press conferences.
Amazon has confirmed that the ATP tennis action will be available as part of is basic Prime service which currently costs subscribers £7.99 per month, or £79 a year.
The ATP’s own TennisTV online service will continue to offer all the matches in question and is unaffected by this move.
ATP executive chairman and president Chris Kermode said: "We’re thrilled to work with Amazon as it marks a pivotal moment in our sport.
"Our agreement with Amazon allows us to open up a digital space that is only becoming increasingly important in the world of sport and entertainment."
As for the ATP tournaments not included in the Amazon deal, some of these will be continue to be broadcast on more traditional platforms.
Both Eurosport and FreeSports have covered several 250-level events this year and will continue to do so under a separate deal.
Earlier this week, it was reported by The Guardian that Amazon were to be awarded the US Open rights in the UK and Ireland.
The company declined to comment. However, a spokesman for the USTA, which runs the tournament, told sportinglife.com: "Presently, we are conducting an evaluation on where to place the US Open media rights in the UK and Ireland. Our goal is to conclude this evaluation in a timely manner, but we are not beholden to a specific timetable."
The women’s game sells its rights completely separately. BT Sport’s contract with the WTA is not due to expire until the end of 2019.
Governing bodies of other sports will be watching with interest how the ATP’s Amazon deal plays out.
There have been suggestions recently that football Premier League could sell its next rights package in a similar live streaming deal. An announcement about its 2019-2022 deal is expected in the coming months.
