Amazon is paying the ATP £10M per year for the rights to broadcast 37 tournaments including the Queen's Club Championships.GETTY IMAGES
With "just five weeks to go" before Amazon broadcasts the Queen's Club Championships -- the tech company will provide pay-TV coverage, while the BBC will continue showing the action on free-to-air channels -- there is "curiously not a mention of tennis to be found on Amazon's website," according to Stuart Fraser of the LONDON TIMES. Requests to speak with Amazon "have been turned down." There is, "for unknown reasons, no interest in sharing any further details on the five-year deals" with the ATP and U.S. Tennis Association. As tennis "prepares to enter this brave new world," there is "an air of mystery." This is "not to suggest that anything has necessarily gone wrong, but it has raised eyebrows." There were "fears that Amazon's offering would amount to no more than a standard court feed and commentary," but sources suggest that a proper studio setup with analysts will be used. Innovation will form a "crucial part of the coverage," and it is understood that the sport's broadcasting execs are "impressed with Amazon's vision." Do not "expect to see this during the first broadcasts" from the Queen's Club and Eastbourne, though. While this "would have been an excellent opportunity to give a sneak preview of what is to come," the level of production and promotion is "expected to be low-key in the early stages" (LONDON TIMES, 5/11).
