Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during a match against Alexander Zverev of Germany during a men’s singles match on Court Philippe Chatrier during the second day of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros complex on May 27, 2024 in Paris.
Anne-Christine Pujola | Reportedly via Getty Images
Warner Bros. Discovery TNT Sports will be the exclusive U.S. broadcaster of the French Open, also known as Roland Garros, starting in 2025, the company announced Tuesday.
The entertainment company signed a 10-year contract with the French Tennis Federation worth an average of about $65 million per year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The deal makes Warner Bros. Discovery the largest global broadcast partner of the Grand Slam tournament, which drew an audience of 675,000 this year. Eurosport, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, has broadcast the French Open to 55 countries outside the U.S. since 1989, according to a press release.
“Roland Garros aligns perfectly with our global sports strategy and our commitment to adding premium live sports content to the TNT Sports portfolio. We look forward to offering fans a best-in-class content experience and providing them with even more direct access to live Roland Garros coverage than ever before,” TNT Sports chairman and CEO Louis Silberwasser said in the release.
Under the agreement, the match will be broadcast live on TNT, TBS and TruTV, including simulcast on the company’s streaming platform Max.
Prior to this agreement, the tournament was held in the United States Comcast NBC and streaming services Peacock and Tennis Channel partnered through sublicensing agreements.
TNT Sports has announced that it will broadcast the match on-site from studios and announcing teams located in multiple locations within Paris’ Roland Garros stadium, with broadcast details to be announced in the coming months.
The news comes as Warner Bros. and Discovery are co-launching a sports streaming service called Venu. Disney ESPN and FoxVenu is expected to launch this fall, with channel offerings expected to include TNT, TBS and TruTV.
The addition of the French Open is further evidence that the company is looking to add live sports that are worth the investment price tag: Over the past three years, TNT Sports has acquired the rights to the National Hockey League, NASCAR, U.S. Soccer, the College Football Playoff (through a sublicensing deal with ESPN) and now the French Open.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery is in talks to extend its partnership with the NBA to broadcast live games, and CNBC previously reported that NBCUniversal has made an offer for a match package handled by TNT Sports, but Warner Bros. Discovery is focused on a different match package.
The impact of Hollywood’s writers strike and cost-cutting measures across the industry, including at Warner Bros. Discovery, have led media giants to rely heavily on sports as a way to attract more viewers and advertising dollars.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
—CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
