Mumbai: Tennis Australia announced on Tuesday that they have extended their partnership with Sony Pictures Networks for the broadcast and digital rights for the Australian Open for the next three years in India.
The broadcast will be on a minimum of two English language television channels, along with streaming of all 16 match courts on their video on demand service, SonyLIV, it was announced at the official Australian Open 2020 media launch. This will be the first time that Sony will stream the video feeds from all 16 courts on the app. Select matches will also be broadcast in Hindi during the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season held in January every year.
Crucially, the tournament’s media team told Scroll.in that the live streaming of all courts are likely to be available only on paid subscription in the streaming app. This would mean that the live streaming that was available on the official site of the Australian Open will no longer continue from 2020.
The Major Down Under is the only Grand Slam of tennis that is broadcast on the Sony Network, with the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open being shown on Star Sports.
“India became the eighth market globally for broadcast audience of the Australian Open this year. India is now the third biggest audience in Asia behind Japan and China,” said Alfonso Medina, Head of Media Rights of Tennis Australia.
Japan, it should be noted, created record numbers for the women’s final where Naomi Osaka beat Petra Kvitova to win her second straight Major earlier this season.
The Australian Open media launch has been held in a different city in the Asia pacific lately, including Tokyo and Singapore. This year, Mumbai was the chosen destination, partly due to the viewership attracted this season.
The team also announced all the lead-up events, including the Adelaide International ATP 250 tournament, will be shown on Sony. However, there is no confirmation as yet on the rights of the ATP Cup, the first edition of which will be conducted by Tennis Australia next year.
In addition to producing all matches live from each tournament, Tennis Australia announced that they will also provide quality Indian-specific, original programming content year-round, including match highlights, player, tournament and city profiles, behind the scenes and more.
Last week, it was announced that the Australian Open will have electronic line-calling feature on all courts during the qualifying rounds.