MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has renewed a deal for one of its key tennis properties - Wimbledon.
 

ESS has renewed the rights for another five years. Besides Wimbledon, ESS also airs the Australian and US Open tennis tournaments. Ten Sports has The French Open. Last year, over 167 million homes enjoyed the sight of Swiss Roger Federer winning Wimbledon on ESS. In addition, ESS claims that its overall tennis coverage was able to attract an extra 50 million viewers.

In people-metered markets, Wimbledon claims to be attracting up to five times more affluent, senior professionals than all programs on other cable news channels in Asia. In fact, an average Wimbledon match rates at least twice that of competitive top programmes on other cable channels, says an official release.

ESS MD Rik Dovey was quoted in the release saying, "Wimbledon remains the most widely watched tennis tournament in the world .The key to this acquisition was the fact that the rights holders recognise that we have the best distribution of any sports network in Asia . Year after year, through our first-class production values and support programming, we have dramatically improved the presentation of Wimbledon and enhanced viewer appreciation for the event as well as the sport as a whole."

Wimbledon director of television John Rowlinson added that ESS' proven ability to value-add to sport properties was a deciding factor in the award of the multi-year rights to the company. "We appreciate, in particular, how well they have promoted the tournament in the past, and the way in which their distribution network has grown in strength, particularly in China."

This year, Wimbledon will be held from 21 June - 4 July and will air live on Star Sports as usual.