It is good news for American tennis fans! After missing out on many important matches of the French Open due to the original broadcasting partner’s conduct, fans in the United States are finally getting blessed with a new streaming partner. While the deal will be effective from the next year, sports enthusiasts are already delighted hoping that their misfortune will end soon.

According to the New York Times, Warner Bros. Discovery aka TNT Sports has signed a whopping $650 million deal for 10 years with the Roland Garros committee to showcase matches. This deal will start to take effect from the beginning of 2025. As said by NY Times’ Athletic, TNT Sports is trying to negotiate with NBC, the Roland Garros official broadcasting partner in the United States. In fact, they also spoke about pursuing other broadcasting rights for this major tournament in America. Warner Bros. Discovery’s deal came as a surprise to American tennis fans, who felt their needs were ignored by the NBC.

Variety magazine wrote- “Warner has acquired the U.S. rights to the French Open, the tennis tournament also known as Roland-Garros, according to people familiar with the matter, snatching up a property that has primarily been associated with NBC Sports for many years.”

Now, NBC has been the official Roland Garros broadcasting partner in the United States for over 4 decades. Along with this, Tennis Channel had the streaming rights to the tournament on cable since 2007.  While things look properly planned out, it is not like that in reality. For instance, this year, NBC divided the French Open’s streaming between Peacock and Tennis Channel.

Fans were mostly tuned to watching tennis on the Tennis Channel and didn’t receive any live coverage of the tournament due to agreement-related obligations. NBC on the other hand kept a 3-hour slot for tennis and covered matches that were live at that time. This meant that even if stalwarts like Djokovic or American players like Fritz or Gauff had a match beyond that 3-hour schedule, those were not telecasted for the fans. In this situation, Warner Bros. Discovery’s deal looks like a lucrative one for American tennis fanatics.

While this new deal delighted the fans’ hearts, they were disappointed with NBC’s broadcasting schedule earlier, which made them miss many matches. Given that Paris’s unexpected rain delayed many matches and shifted the venue from outdoor to indoor courts, NBC couldn’t showcase them in their alternative timing, leaving fans utterly disappointed as many people paid extra for the subscription only to watch the French Open.

American tennis fans angry over NBC’s poor Roland Garros scheduling

NBC’s 3-hour slot had forced many American fans to miss their favorite matches. For example, on the 29th of May, Taylor Fritz’s match against Federico Coria got delayed due to rain as the match was held in Court 14, which is an outdoor court. On the other hand, Peyton Stearns faced the same as she couldn’t start her match against Daria Kasatkina until after 9 pm due to rain. America’s favorite Ben Shelton said- “It’s not easy. You kind of wish you were one of the top seeds playing on Lenglen or Chatrier and you didn’t have to worry about rain delays or when you’re playing, because things are moving smoothly when you have a roof,” 

Mostly the famous and higher-ranked players got the opportunity to play on Philippe Chatrier Court or Suzanne Lenglen Court, where rain didn’t bother their schedule. For others, outdoor match scheduling halted their game. This impacted American fans as they missed out on the match due to rescheduling which didn’t fall under NBC’s 3-hour slot.

On the other hand, a reliable tennis journalist brought attention to how Americans missed out on an important match like Djokovic vs Musetti which went on for 4 and a half hours. He wrote, “Americans have been locked out of TV access to major-tournament tennis for roughly 5.5 consecutive hours.”

Nevertheless, the new deal signed by Warner Bros. Discovery brings hope to American fans that they won’t have any more FOMO about the French Open tournament next year. It also assures that the broadcasting companies will not overlook tennis fans and their requirements anymore.