ESPN Extends ATP World Tour Coverage in LatAm, Caribbean

BRISTOL: ESPN has inked a five-year extension deal with ATP Media for the telecast rights in Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean to all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Under the new agreement, ESPN’s rights include full exclusivity for pay-TV and digital platforms in Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean. Every year, the channel will broadcast more than 400 hours of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event coverage featuring the world’s top men’s professional tennis players. The new deal begins with the first Masters 1000 event of the 2016 season, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in California’s Indian Wells from March 7 to 20, followed by events in Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Toronto, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris. The coverage concludes with the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals from London’s The O2 in November.

“We are pleased to extend our comprehensive coverage of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament series, and the finale in London, as it showcases the world’s top men’s players competing at the highest level,” said Michael Walters, the VP of programming at ESPN International. “With this agreement, ESPN continues its commitment to our viewers to telecast the highest-quality sports programming from throughout the world.”

Mark Webster, the CEO of ATP Media, added: “ESPN has played an integral role in allowing us to introduce and make the ATP World Tour accessible to over one billion viewers worldwide. There is an ever expanding appetite for the ATP World Tour amongst Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean and we look forward to evolving the viewing experience in these territories across the next five years.”