MCS TV to Broadcast WTA Events

MCS TV Group has today confirmed a four year deal with IEC in Sports and sports media group PERFORM to exclusively broadcast over 400 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) matches per year across their network of channels. 

The four year deal, which covers all platforms, starts at the Brisbane International on the 2nd January 2013 and will include access to 22 WTA Premier tournaments every year, concluding with the season finale TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul.

MCS TV Group’s channels include Ma Chaine Sport, MCS Extrême, MCS Bien-être and MCS International and are distributed across Numéricable, Canalsat and ADSL, reaching over 14 million viewers in multiple territories including France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Israel, Portugal and selected territories in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the acquisition, MCS TV Group will launch a new channel specifically to showcase their tennis content. The MCS Tennis channel will feature all of the WTA Premier events alongside specific men’s ATP World Tour events for which the MCS TV Group own the rights.

Nicolas Rotkoff, President of MCS TV commented: “We are proud to announce this long term contract with the WTA that really reinforces and grows our tennis offering with the best of women’s tennis.”

PERFORM and IEC in Sports, who partnered to acquire and market the WTA’s Premier events in December 2011, plan to double the number of current live matches produced, by increasing both the number of courts and days covered. In addition, PERFORM will provide extensive coverage of the WTA on all its digital platforms, including (i) TennisTV.com, the WTA’s and ATP World Tour’s official live streaming subscription website, (ii) ePlayer, the sports VOD broadcast platform that reaches over 130 million sports fans each month, (iii) a bi-monthly TV and digital magazine show featuring on and off-court WTA highlights, (iv) a global TV and digital news service of match highlights and player interviews in seven different languages, and (v) Watch&Bet.

Speaking about the MCS deal, Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA commented: “This is a very significant deal and marks an exciting evolution in the distribution and exposure of women’s tennis. Our ambition alongside that of PERFORM and IEC in Sports is to ensure we reach as many fans of women’s tennis around the world, and this deal is the first of many that will see us fulfill this goal.”

Simon Denyer, PERFORM’s joint-CEO added: “The WTA is a fantastic sports right property which recognises that fans are now consuming sport differently. Our expertise in digital rights combined with IEC in Sports expertise in broadcast distribution is really starting to pay off, as you will see with a number of additional announcements over the coming months.”
Nick Haigh, Chairman of The International Board at IEC in Sports added: “MCS has already established itself as a major player in the sports broadcast industry – this partnership is another reflection of that and we look forward to continuing our existing strong relationships with MCS still further with this landmark deal.”