Jannik Sinner and Luciano Spalletti
Sinner-Berrettini, show at Wimbledon, but only for pay TV fans
The derby between Sinner and Berrettini in the second round of Wimbledon? It was a show that exalted the Italian and world audience. Unfortunately in Italy it was broadcast on pay TV and few were able to see it. Or rather, not the majority of those who probably would have followed it.
Record TV ratings for Sky with Sinner vs Berrettini
Sky celebrated important audience figures, obtaining the second best result ever for a match of the London tournament, with 981 thousand average viewers in Total Audience (data that includes viewings on big screens and Sky Go), 5.4% TV share and 2 million 231 thousand unique viewers. Numbers that soared during the key phases of the match: still in Total Audience (excluding SkyGo), a peak was recorded at 11.30 pm with over 1 million 200 thousand average viewers overall, while the peak moment of the TV share was 8.8% at 11.32 pm, on the decisive match point.
Of course, if the match had been broadcast live on Rai or in any case on free-to-air TV (TV8) a much higher trend would have been expected given the expectation that had been created (also considering the Auditel results of the last ATP Finals in Turin or the Davis Cup won by Italy last autumn).
Sky and Wimbledon, Sky’s 2022 coup. Tennis rights on pay TV
But this is just a theoretical hypothesis, as Wimbledon is a Sky exclusive, with the rights purchased way back in 2022 and valid until the 2026 edition. Not only that. Pay TV – which broadcasts about eighty tournaments a year between Masters 1000, 500 and 250 – has made wider agreements at a global level with repercussions also on other countries where it broadcasts (from the United Kingdom to Germany, Switzerland and others). It is complicated for the generalist networks to compete and it has already been a ray of sunshine for the ‘non-paying’ fans to see the great matches of the November finals between the top 8 of the year (with Sinner finalist defeated by Djokovic), as well as some matches of the Internazionali d’Italia which are played in Rome in the month of May (always on Rai).
On the other hand, free-to-air tennis has had a real boom with the explosion of Sinner in recent months (who would have expected to see Jannik already today as the winner of a Slam and number 1 in the world?) – even if already with the past results of Matteo Berrettini (finalist at Wimbledon in 2021 against Nole Djokovic) there had been the first signs of the enthusiasm that was smouldering under the ashes of the Italian people, fasting from Slams since the days of Adriano Panatta (it was 1976 and the TV was in black and white …).
Free-to-air tennis, long matches and overturned schedules
Not only that. The enthusiasm of the moment is fine, but tennis matches, especially in the Slam tournaments (three sets out of five) are often very long (3-4-5 even 6 hours) and do not fit well with the schedules of generalist TV networks. It’s one thing to watch the final or a top match, but it’s another thing to follow all the rounds on a daily basis, from the first to the last, distorting the schedules and risking bloodbaths in TV ratings (with consequent repercussions on advertising)
Sports rights and pay TV, those words of Pier Silvio Berlusconi
And Pier Silvio Berlusconi’s reflections from a few weeks ago on the subject of rights related to sport (especially football) come to mind. which “has become a content mainly for pay-TV: it costs a lot of money. Paying a lot is not a sign of wealth but of difficulty for pay-TV. Today they can only sell big events to get subscribers. It represents a fairly fragile business model, different from our mentality”.
Sinner on pay TV at Wimbledon, Jannik on Rai would have been better than the Euro flop of Italian football
That said, it is certainly true that, returning to the initial discussion, seeing an Italian derby Sinner-Berrettini on free-to-air television would have pleased many and would have been a sporting media event to remember. Better Jannik vs Matteo, than Italy-Switzerland and the bad Euro 2024 of the national team, one might say recalling the disappointment for the elimination that still causes a pang in the blue hearts. But it is evident that here too we are talking on the emotional wave of the moment, only 3 years ago the Italian football team lifted the continental champion’s cup (winning at Wembley against the hosts England), between carousels in the squares of the whole country and record TV ratings.
Sinner in Wimbledon final would go free-to-air? It is not on the list of events of national interest
Rather, the hottest discussion is linked to a possible final for Sinner at Wimbledon, which also risks not being able to go free-to-air, just like what happened in the match won last January by Jannik against Daniil Medvedev (who gave the Italian the Australian Open) and to Jasmine Paolini in the last Roland Garros (defeated by Iga Swiatek).
Warner Bros.Discovery (which had the rights to the two tournaments) would have done so, but the matches were not included among the sporting events of national interest and therefore broadcast the matches not only on Eurosport, but also on Nine it was something impossible to achieve (would have violated the agreements with other operators, such as Sky, Dazn, Tim or Amazon who offer Eurosport to their subscribers).
Yes, because, to give an example, an Italian team in the Champions League final (but also in the semi-final) must be broadcast on a free network., while a tennis player reaching the deciding match of a Slam is not obligatory. For months we have been waiting for the list to be expanded, the procedures have started, but not yet concluded. In this case however, since Wimbledon is only on Sky and Now, the hope is that, if necessary, there could also be a broadcast on TV8 (as happened for Djokovic-Berrettini in 2021).
#Sinner #pay #Rai #hired #flop #European #Championships
