Coco Gauff from the United States raises the winner trophy after his victory against Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the women’s female competition on the Philippe-Chatrier court during the tennis tournament opened in 2025 in Roland Garros on June 7, 2025, in Paris, France.
SIPA via images AP
The tennis channel extends its agreement with the Women’s Tennis Association which will see the cable television network and the streaming service continue to broadcast more than 2,000 games each season each season.
Although the conditions of the agreement were not disclosed, the CEO of Tennis Channel, Jeff Blackburn, told CNBC in an interview that there was a “fairly large stage in our payments” at WTA for the rights of the American media, which includes international tournaments and the WTA final event. The new agreement lasts until 2032.
“Our objective and our mission is to simply cover professional tennis and tennis game like no one else, every day, every hour, all year round. There is no offseason,” said Blackburn. “WTA plays a huge role in this and it was a high priority for me to make sure that we have renewed our relationship and that we extend it in the long term that we were able.”
The exclusive renewal of rights occurs while the tennis channel is in full transition on several fronts.
Last year, the long -standing CEO of Tennis Channel, Ken Solomon, was ousted by the company. Blackburn entered the role at the beginning of May, after a 24 -year career in AmazonWhere he helped build privileged videos and extend the sports streaming service, among other companies.
In the meantime, SincelairThe owner of the broadcasting stations as well as the tennis channel, had recently planned to unload the network, previously reported CNBC. The parent company, however, no longer explores a sale of the tennis channel, especially since Blackburn has taken the bar, according to a person familiar with the question that spoke under the guise of anonymity to discuss non -public details.
In the backdrop, the tennis canal, like its network peers, claims the continuous loss of customers of the Bundle Pay-TV. While live sports collect the most general public – and the leagues have collected enormous rights in terms of rights – media companies focus on the growth of profitability of their streaming activities.
In 2014, the 24/7 tennis network took its first step in streaming with Tennis Channel Plus, and later in 2022 introduced Tennis Channel 2, a free streaming channel supported by advertising. While Blackburn said Tennis Channel 2 had succeeded and attracted a younger audience, he focuses on strengthening the streaming application directly launched from the tennis channel.
The application, launched in November 2024, costs $ 9.99 per month or $ 109.99 per year and offers the same programming as the paid television network. Media companies are increasingly offering the same live sports presented on paid television networks on their homologous streaming alternatives – notably with the launch of Disney Espn flagship application later this year.
“What is important in the partnership is that they undertake to do more with us,” said Marina Storti, CEO of WTA Ventures, the commercial branch of WTA. “They are determined for this increased exposure on all their platforms. They have undertaken to ensure this type of exposure equal for women and men, where they have the rights. And they make a significant commitment. There is a substantial increase in rights costs, which is a big step for us as part of our plan and our commitment to grow.”
The agreement of the tennis channel with the WTA covers a large part of the WTA tournaments outside North America through the finals of the season of the season.
The public of WTA events on the tennis channel has increased, especially among the youngest demographic. The viewer in 18 to 34 year olds on the tennis channel has increased each year in each of the last two years, according to a press release.
“Equal facts”
Analyst Martina Navratilova with guest Maria Sharapova on the Wimbledon desk of the tennis channel
Photo: Fred Mullane / CameraWork, United States.
The agreement occurs while American tennis players have shot the world ranking and that female sports in general have increased in popularity and funding for investments.
Already in 2025, two American women won two of the best majors: Madison Keys took the Australian Open in January, and Coco Gauff was crowned winner of the French Open in June. Gauff and Keys will be part of the Wimbledon participants, which starts on Monday.
“Tennis is really the only major sport where the male and female game is on an equal footing, and it is really important,” said Blackburn. “I think that for tennis, it makes it unique. The growth of female sports overall? Maybe basketball and football will get there, but I think tennis is in progress to provide this for the fan.”
The free tennis channel 2 streaming option affected every Tuesday as a “women’s day” – showing only women’s coverage – and Blackburn underlined the list of female and heavy talent network, including the old players and the Martina Navratilo and Lindsay Davenport temple.
The extension of the agreements is also based on recent efforts of WTA Ventures to increase its commercial income and build the profiles of its athletes.
In 2023, the WTA trained a strategic partnership with the CVC Capital Partners Capital Capital Company, which has invested $ 150 million for a 20% stake in WTA new companies. The entity has been trained to focus on the growth of commercial income thanks to sponsorships and media rights agreements, with the aim of tripling its income by 2029.
In 2024, WTA Ventures said it expected to increase income by 24% in its first full year.
The extension of media rights marks the first renegotiation with the tennis channel within the framework of the WTA Ventures. The longtime agreement of WTA media rights with the DAZN streaming service expires at the end of next year, and talks started for new transactions that would start in 2027, Storti said.
WTA Ventures said its global audience had exceeded 1 billion viewers on broadcasting and streaming last season, and Storti said the United States was one of the largest WTA growth markets, as well as China and Poland.
“We are a completely general public product that attracts hundreds of millions of fans around the world, and I would say that we are delivering a product that is sort of shoulder with the men’s counterpart,” said Storti.
The WTA also recently emphasized improvements for players.
This year, he announced a paid maternity leave funded by the SAUDI Public Investment Fund, as well as a new policy allowing players to protect their ranking during fertility treatments
However, tennis is not without its disparity problems. While the US Open awarded an equal prize to men and women from 1973, it was decades in advance on Wimbledon and other majors. And although equal prices are granted at the level of the majors, there is always a considerable remuneration deviation from the lower level tournaments.
Sport has also aroused criticism around the Open of France 2025 when the majority of grandeum slots went to male matches.