BT acquires WTA rights for its sports channel

MUMBAI: BT Sport has signed a four-year deal with the Women?s Tennis Association (WTA) as it seeks to widen the appeal of its soon-to-be-launched sports channels, which is expected to debut this summer.

The BT Sport deal includes five elite WTA tournaments - Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and Istanbul. During the 2013 season, the rights will be held jointly with previous holder Eurosport, but from 2014 will be exclusively owned by BT Sport.

BT Sport will show live matches from 21 WTA tournaments across the globe which adds up to 800 hours of live tennis per year featuring the best women players in the world, including the season-ending showpiece TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships.

BT Sport head Simon Green said, "This is our first women?s sport for the channels and we see a genuine opportunity to really develop the exposure for women?s sport with our new channels. We are focusing on several more women?s sports and we hope to be able to announce more rights soon.

"Women?s tennis is the highest profile women?s sport, attracting a global audience of 185 million viewers. It?s a good moment for the British women, with Laura and Heather starting to challenge for honours. We want to follow their story over the next few years, as well as showcasing the world?s best players in the tournaments that help determine their world rankings."

BT has chosen the iCity, the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, as the home of its BT Sport channels.

BT Sport will show 38 live games a season from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the top clashes, for three years from August 2013. The channels will also show 69 live rugby union games a season from the Aviva Premiership.