ESPN Star Sports to show Three of the Four Tennis Grand Slams

Media News

New Delhi, November 16

ESPN STAR Sports has acquired the live and exclusive telecast rights to the French Open Grand Slam tournament for a period of five years in South Asia, starting with the next championship in May-June, 2007. Roland Garros (commonly referred to as the French Open) will add to the existing strong line-up of tennis programming on ESPN and STAR Sports, which already includes the Australian Open, the Wimbledon, ATP Masters Series, the Tennis Masters Cup and other national and Asian level tournaments.

Speaking on the acquisition, R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd said: “Popularity of tennis has been growing steadily in India, fuelled by the constant progress made by Indian players at the international level. We are in the business of bringing top sporting action to our fans and the French Open fits in beautifully with our tennis calendar, making our offering even more satisfying for Indian tennis fans, who will continue to enjoy the international quality production and packaging synonymous with tennis broadcast on ESPN and STAR Sports.”

Michel Grach, Commercial Director of the FFT said, “We are extremely pleased to be associated with ESPN STAR Sports for the telecast of the French Open for the next 5 years. Being a premier tournament, we are indeed delighted that the leader in international sport will be showing the tournament live in the Indian Sub-continent, providing tennis fans a chance to see some of the game’s best in action. We are certain that the international quality of production and telecast will bring in more viewers across the country.”

Over the last 112 years, the French Open has become one of the most romantic international tennis championships in the world. The French Open is the world’s most prestigious clay-court championship and considered a supreme challenge as even top seeds are never assured of victory at Roland Garros. Mastery of the surface requires an armoury of shots meaning the established stars and the less-fancied underdogs will often compete on equal footing, making for an exciting fortnight of tennis.

ESPN STAR Sports has the lion’s share of major Indian tennis, being the official broadcaster of the recently-concluded Mumbai Open and having broadcasted earlier this year the Bangalore and Chennai Opens. The winning of the telecast rights for the French Open adds to the portfolio of the channel as a leader in worldwide sports with properties like the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga in Soccer, rights to live cricket action from six test playing nations, all races of the F1 season, A1 Grand Prix and MotoGP, regular shows of TNA wrestling & Pride FC and ESPN STAR Sports & Indian Hockey Federation’s very own Premier Hockey League (PHL).

For further information, contact ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd:

Bhaskar Majumdar, Manager - Corporate Communications, 9811194244