The Australian Open has joined hands with the Qatari media group and television broadcaster, beIN Sports. Both the entities have agreed on a five-year deal in which beIN has acquired the media rights of the tennis tournament in 10 territories across the Asia-Pacific region.
The list includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. The partnership will commence with the 2022 edition of the Australian Open and Adelaide International ATP 250 Tournament.
The tennis and Australian Open viewers will be enjoying more than 14 hours of live tennis per day on the beIN Sports channels. For the first time in Asia, all the Australian Open main draw matches across 16 courts will be live-streamed in beIN’s live streaming app, beIN Sports Connect.
Speaking on the occasion, Mike Kerr, Managing Director of beIN Asia Pacific, said: “We are committed to delivering a strong tennis offering in this region, and thrilled to have acquired the Australian Open. Known as the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific, fans can look forward to unparalleled access to the matches, off-court moments, player stories, and more across all screens. We look forward to working alongside Tennis Australia to bring in new audiences and increase fan engagement like never before.”
Adding to it, Craig Tiley, Australian Open Tournament Director, said: “As the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific, we are delighted to extend our agreement with beIN Sports to cover South East Asia, after years of successful collaboration with them in the Middle East and Northern Africa.” Our Asian fans treat the Australian Open as their ‘home’ Slam and so it’s fantastic that with beIN Sports’ innovation and commitment they will now be able to enjoy every main draw match from the AO live from across every court at Melbourne Park.”
The coverage of the Australian Open will include the AO Qualifying Tournament, AO Junior Championships, AO Wheelchair Championships, AO Legends, AO Australian, and Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-offs.
Meanwhile, Australian open has stepped into a collaboration with an open-source 3D virtual world platform, Decentraland. Following this, the fans of the tennis tournament will be able to discover a digital recreation of the Australian Open grounds in Melbourne and interact with players and other fans. Australian Open also recently unveiled Kia Arena in collaboration with the South Korean automobile manufacturer, Kia.