French broadcaster France Télévisions “confirmed a deal” with the Int’l Tennis Federation and beIN Sports to co-broadcast most of the French national team’s matches of the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup until ’19, according to L’ÉQUIPE. The contract “begins with the first stages of each event:” women’s France vs. Italy (Feb. 6-7 in Marseille) and men’s France vs. Canada (March 4-6 in Guadeloupe). BeIN Sports, the owner of the int’l TV rights for the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup until ’21, agreed, at the request of the ITF, “to share the rights with France Télévisions.” However, France Télévisions “will not have all of the matches.” While the channels will share broadcasts of the Fed Cup, France Télévisions “will only show Saturday and Sunday matches of the Davis Cup” (L’ÉQUIPE, 1/20). In a separate piece, L’ÉQUIPE reported Canal+ on Thursday “acquired the broadcasting rights for the men’s and women’s basketball Olympic Qualifying Tournament.” The women’s tournament will be hosted by France on June 13-19. The men’s tournament will be hosted by Italy, the Philippines and Serbia from July 5-11 (L’ÉQUIPE, 1/21).