After a lot of talk has been heard as of late on what the television rights deal this spring of sporting events, Warner Brothers Discovery finally closed a deal of a major event and for many this marks the beginning of what could be a new era of sports enjoyment.
According to reports, WBD has reached an agreement with the French Open to acquire their rights beginning in 2025 in what is a very lucrative deal. It is a 10-year, $650 million deal, sources say. This will make the Roland Garros tournament run through many of the network’s channels, including TNT, TBS and truTV, in addition to the Max digital platform and digitally on Bleacher Report.
It is a very interesting television move since, other than three years it aired on CBS, NBC has televised the French Open every year since 1983. According to reports, this deal will not affect the company’s pursuit of being part of the next NBA broadcast right package, which expires after the 2024-25 season.
How can the NBA pursuit be better for the company?
The NBA is leaving TNT after it has been reportedly set up a package involving Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal, but the fact that Warner Brothers Discovery is in the mix, says a lot of the audience that will try to keep after all the years of having games on their network.
TNT will try to capture another market as they announced it will sublicense ESPN’s rights to broadcast two first-round College Football Playoff games for each year for the remainder of the deal starting with the 2026 season.
