Channel 9 Secure Rights To Summer Tennis In Landmark Deal

Aus Open has a new home


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The Australian Open has a new TV home after Channel 9 secured the broadcast rights in a landmark deal.

The news was confirmed on Thursday afternoon and will see the entire summer of Australian tennis relocate from Channel 7 from 2020 in a five-year deal worth $300 million.

"The new tennis rights agreement, worth $60 million per annum, will give Nine an unparalleled launch platform for the television ratings year, which commences straight after the Australian Open," Nine said in a statement.

"The Australian open is consistently among the most watched programs of the year. Last year's men's final was the second most watched program of 2017, with a national average audience of 3.64 million."

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Tennis Australia CEO Crag Tilley also commented on "exciting" news, explaining that the move was a strategic one.

"This is a landmark deal for Tennis Australia and we are very excited to partner with the Nine Network for the next five years," he said.

"Our objective going into this process was a growth plan for exposure across the key planks of both tennis and non-tennis content, and the Nine offer best met these requirements.

"Nine's commitment to additional tennis programming year-round was also aligned to our strategy."

According to Fairfax Media, Nine's offer was almost double that of Channel 7's existing deal with Tennis Australia.

"Seven had an exclusive negotiating period with tennis that ended in March, and bids were then opened up to other competitors with a mid-April deadline," they reported.

"The current deal with Seven, which includes exclusive digital rights, is worth $35 million a year.

"It's believed Nine's latest offer was closer to $60 million."

It means that next year's Melbourne Open will be Channel 7's final broadcast of the event, ending their 40-year run.

29 March 2018




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