Stuart Fraser - The Times May 11th.
Interested in finding out more information on Amazon Prime’s forthcoming television coverage of ATP tournaments and the US Open before signing up? Don’t waste your time searching on Google.
With just five weeks to go before the tech giant broadcasts the Fever-Tree Championships from the Queen’s Club (Amazon will provide pay-TV coverage, while the BBC will continue showing the action on free-to-air channels) there is curiously not a mention of tennis to be found on Amazon’s website.
Requests by The Slice to speak with Amazon have been turned down. There is, for unknown reasons, no interest in sharing any further details on the five-year deals with the ATP and United States Tennis Association.
So, as tennis prepares to enter this brave new world, there is an air of mystery. This is not to suggest that anything has necessarily gone wrong, but it has raised eyebrows.
What we do know about the ATP-Amazon deal is that about £10 million a year is being paid by Amazon for the rights to broadcast 37 tournaments, including all the Masters events and the Nitto ATP Finals. Amazon will take over from Sky Sports at the start of next year, although it can show matches from Queen’s and Eastbourne this summer due to a separate agreement.
The exclusive US Open rights — previously held by Eurosport from 2016-2017 and by Sky in the preceding 25 years — are worth about £6 million a year. This, coupled with the ATP contract, amounts to a significant investment by Amazon, but it has been promised that it will come at no additional cost to Prime subscribers, who already pay £7.99 a month or £79 a year.
There were fears that Amazon’s offering would amount to no more than a standard court feed and commentary, but sources suggest that a proper studio set-up with analysts will be used. Innovation will form a crucial part of the coverage, and it is understood that the sport’s broadcasting chiefs are impressed with Amazon’s vision.
Do not expect to see this during the first broadcasts from the Queen’s Club and Eastbourne, though. While this would have been an excellent opportunity to give a sneak preview of what is to come, the level of production and promotion is expected to be low-key in the early stages.
While a small but keen production team are preparing for the coming months, some of the decision-making by bosses is said to have been slow, giving a last-minute feel to the operation. It has forced some pundits to weigh up other offers of work while Amazon stalls on forming its broadcasting team for Flushing Meadows.
The lack of information is doing little to ease the concerns of regular tennis watchers, many of whom are already disappointed that the sport is beginning to move away from traditional television towards an internet-based service. Bear in mind that SportsBusiness Journal revealed last year that the ATP tour has a median viewer age of 61. Technology will take a bit of getting used to for some.
It is also not ideal that live streaming via the internet still has a considerable delay, up to 90 seconds in some instances. You may well discover the result of a match before seeing the last ball being hit on your screen.
We await with interest, then, for the moment when Amazon decides to stop playing its cards so close to its chest and reveals what the future of tennis broadcasting in the UK will look like. For now it is shrouded in uncertainty.