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Amazon aces Sky in tennis to win exclusive rights to ATP World Tour

Published: 15:43 01 Aug 2017 BST

Amazon
Amazon has won its first major live TV sports rights deal outside the US

Sky plc (LON:SKY) has been outbid by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) for the exclusive rights to stream the ATP World Tour tennis tournament in the UK.

Amazon nabbed the rights from Sky, whose five-year contract ends in 2018, with an offer said to be worth as much has £10mln a year. Sky is understood to have paid about £8mln a year for its current deal.

It marks Amazon’s first major live TV sports rights deal outside the US.

The tech giant’s Amazon Prime Video will broadcast all top-flight men’s tennis other than the four grand slam tournaments, including the end of year ATP World Tour finals at the O2 Arena in London.

Amazon’s contract covers the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and Masters 500 tennis tournaments around the world, including in Paris, Miami and Shanghai.

Sky is not believed to have matched the bid it made last to try to secure the new deal as it has started to back away from tennis. Last year the company dropped its coverage of the US Open tournament after 25 years.

Instead, Sky is preparing to invest its energy in going to battle with BT Group plc (LON:BT.A) to renew their £5.14bn rights for the Premier League next year. Sky and BT are hoping to see an end to extensive rights price inflation.

A one-off £629mln rise in its Premier League rights deal contributed to a 14% fall in annual profits at Sky’s UK and Ireland operations.

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