Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is still trying to grab a package of NBA games for the next few years, but it recently inked a deal that will soon bring a different sport to TNT: Professional tennis.
WBD has signed a 10-year deal to bring the French Open to TNT Sports in the United States, according to the New York Times’ sports vertical The Athletic. The company already has rights to air the French Open tournament on WBD properties in Europe, including TNT Sports, Discovery Plus and Eurosport.
The stateside deal could see WBD paying as much as $650 million for the tournament spread across a decade, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the deal.
Rights to the French Open are currently shared between Comcast’s NBC Sports and Sinclair, Inc.’s Tennis Channel. It wasn’t clear if either of those broadcasters will continue to offer French Open-related programming once the TNT Sports deal is in place.
WBD has worked to diversify its sports offerings beyond its core baseball and basketball programming. Over the past few years, WBD has inked agreements to bring NASCAR and NHL events into the mix, supplementing its MLB, NBA and NCAA college basketball games.
WBD’s rights to NBA games expires after the following season. Comcast’s NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video are contenders to grab the current package of games aired on TNT Sports, with WBD reportedly interested in a smaller package that would relegate locally-broadcast games to TNT Sports instead. The likelihood of WBD convincing the NBA to carve out a smaller package to keep games on TNT is relatively small.
