Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, with Céline Géraud
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10:36 a.m., March 31, 2023
This is good news for the public audiovisual service. An exceptional guest of “Europe 1 Sport”, the president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced the renewal, for four years, of Roland-Garros TV rights to the France Télévisions group. This also recovers the Simonne-Mathieu court at the expense of Amazon Prime Video.
Tennis fans will rejoice at the news. Roland-Garros, the legendary tournament at the Porte d’Auteuil, of which Europe 1 is official radio, will continue to be broadcast on the public service. This was announced by Gilles Moretton, President of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), in an exclusive interview with Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. live on Europe 1). “There are news that are out of the ordinary”, enthused the latter at the microphone of Céline Géraud. France Télévisions thus obtains the exclusive rights to Roland-Garros for four more years, from 2024 to 2027. Amazon Prime Video was in particular in competition.
While a call for tenders had been launched for the broadcast of the famous Parisian tournament for the post-2024 Olympics, the FFT decided to reiterate its confidence in the public service channels. “It was important for Roland-Garros that the greatest number of French people could see the tournament on television, at home”, justified Gilles Moretton in Europe 1 Sport. The president of the FFT spoke of “excellent relations” with Delphine Ernotte, the president of the France TV group, as well as with all the employees of the public service broadcaster.
An additional “night session” for Prime Video
Another change from 2024, the Simonne-Mathieu court will be included in the rights of France TV. “Simonne-Mathieu, who was reserved for Amazon Prime, becomes France Télévisions. This means that during the day, France Télévisions will have the whole tournament”, announced Gilles Moretton. For its part, Prime loses the exclusivity of this recently built court but obtains an additional night session. “Evening sessions will be reserved for Prime Video, with an extension”: the American platform, which had ten exclusive evening sessions, will now have 11 from 2024.