For years the tennis sought space in the free schedules, playing a difficult game against TV rights. Now, thanks to the new decree published in the Gazzetta, Italy finally brings home that decisive point that seemed to never arrive. The law expands the list of events of particular social relevanceincluding semi-finals and finals of the Grand Slam, Masters 1000, ATP and WTA Finals and United Cup tournamentsas long as they are there Italians on the pitch.
A revolution born of the growth of the movement and of the exploits of Jannik Sinnercapable of transforming tennis into a prime time sport.
Some events like the one were already foreseen in clear Davis Cupthe Billie Jean King Cup they Italian internationalsbut the new list marks a change of pace: now the decisive moments of international tennis can be followed for free, not only by those who have a subscription. It is the victory of a sport that has managed to conquer the publicto the point that an Italian final receives ratings comparable to the national football team.
When do we actually leave?
But here comes the twist, one of those that shifts the inertia of the match: the obligation will come into force only upon expiry of the contracts currently in force. Sky, Discovery and other broadcasters therefore retain exclusivity until the agreements already signed expire. This is the case of Roland Garros (rights until 2030) orAustralian Open (until 2031). Until those dates, everything remains as it is: whoever holds the rights will decide whether to offer the match free-to-air via their free channels or via sublicence.
And again for Wimbledon we will have to wait until 2030, for ATP and WTA until 2028, while the US Open they are already visible for free on SuperTennis. In the meantime, free-to-air broadcasting will still be able to continue when the rights holders choose to do itas happened with the recent finals which caused ratings to soar.
So a half victory. If on the one hand tennis is finally starting to be looked at as a sport for everyone, national in all respects and not just an exclusive for season ticket holders only, on the other hand we will have to wait several years to finally see the result of this long battle.
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