London (AFP) – The US Open will become the first Grand Slam tournament to be broadcast solely online in the United Kingdom and Ireland after E-commerce giants Amazon signed a five-year deal for rights to the tournament on Thursday.
The deal with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) begins at this year’s tournament from August 27 to September 9 and follows on from a similar contract signed between Amazon and the ATP in August.
That agreement to also broadcast 37 ATP Tour events, including nine Masters tournaments, doesn’t kick in until 2019.
Matches will be available to watch live and on demand for members of Amazon Prime Video, its internet video service.
Tennis is Amazon Prime’s first major foray into live sports broadcasting in the UK and Ireland having so far baulked at the price of domestic rights for Premier League football matches.
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