Australian Open and WOWOW ace landmark broadcasting deal in Japan
Tennis Australia and Japanese broadcaster WOWOW announced today a significant extension and expansion of their long-term broadcast relationship to 2021.
Commencing January 2017, the new deal is Tennis Australia’s largest broadcast agreement in Japan. Along with extensive coverage of the Australian Open, WOWOW will for the first time broadcast matches from the Emirates Australian Open Series, including:
・ Australian Open Junior Championships, Wheelchair Championships and Legends event
“We are very pleased to not just continue, but extend and expand our long-standing partnership with WOWOW in broadcasting four weeks of world class tennis,” Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said.
“As the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific our fans in Japan treat the Australian Open as their ‘home’ slam, and we are delighted with WOWOW’s commitment to their most comprehensive coverage of the Australian summer of tennis. Our Japanese fans will now be able to follow the action right across Australia throughout January.
“With more channels, content and live feed capabilities, we will be able to tell a more compelling story that shows the power, passion and glory of tennis.”
WOWOW Board Director, Tsutomu Makino said, “With this renewal till 2021, Tennis Australia (TA) and WOWOW’s broadcast relationship will span 30 years. We are very pleased to further foster and cement our long term partnership between TA and WOWOW. The new deal commencing in 2017 will enable us to offer the largest media rights exploitation on WOWOW’s platforms across a broad range of tennis content, including events around a Grand Slam.”
“We offer various entertainment features beyond existing television broadcast. We make every effort to enhance the value of our content by producing top-class quality coverage, but also distributing them to our viewers after extensive promotion that encourage more viewers to follow the programs. We will continue to work hard and contribute to amplifying the Australian Open branding and the development of tennis in Japan.”
The new deal promises more than 200 hours of live coverage on WOWOW TV channels, including live match feeds from the Emirates AO Series.
This year the Australian Open on WOWOW attracted more than 4 million viewers from nearly 200 hours of coverage. With the addition of new events from the first week of January, both audience and coverage are expected to grow in the next five years.
- ends -
Australian Open 2017, presented by Kia Motors in association with ANZ, Jacob’s Creek and Rolex, will take place at Melbourne Park from 16 – 29 January.
Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena tickets and Australian Open ground passes, which allow access to Hisense Arena, are now on sale at ticketek.com.au.
Plan your summer at ausopen.com.
For further media information please contact:
Tennis Australia
Prue Ryan, Tennis Australia, pryan@tennis.com.au, +61 419 308 369
Emma Anderson, Tennis Australia, eanderson@tennis.com.au +61 3 9914 4138