Telstra has been awarded a six year multi-million dollar deal with Perform, a world-leading digital sports content and media group, for the delivery of a global media network solution for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) series of tournaments.
The special events agreement is the largest media broadcast deal since Telstra Broadcast Services was established, and ties in with Perform Group’s recently announced 10 year $525m partnership with WTA, the largest in the history of women’s sports, creating WTA Media, the tour’s dedicated media arm.
Telstra’s deal with Perform will span 47 rolling live global WTA events in 2017, including the Brisbane International, St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, Miami Open and WTA Finals in Singapore, and will increase to more than 50 tournaments by 2020.
Telstra will utilise its own world class network of global submarine fibre cable, satellite teleports, broadcast operations centres in Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United States and global field services teams to transmit live WTA tournament video and audio content across the globe to Perform’s diverse points of presence.
The broadcast solution will utilise Telstra’s Global Media Network and Special Events offering, which provides simple and efficient delivery of live and file-based video content by combining Telstra’s world class network and broadcast expertise into one solution.
In a first for women’s tennis, Telstra will also deliver multiple simultaneous live feeds from concurrent WTA tournaments, enabling audiences to view greater amounts of high-quality live tennis content than in previous tournament years.
David Burns, Telstra’s acting group executive for Global Enterprise and Services said partnering with Perform Group for the delivery of WTA global events builds upon Telstra’s reputation of delivering innovative and efficient broadcast services for large global sporting events.
“Telstra will support over 2,600 hours of live WTA coverage throughout the year spanning tournaments in Sydney to St. Petersburg, Auckland to Acapulco, New Haven to Nanchang to name a few,” he said.
“This agreement reaffirms the value of Telstra’s global reach and broadcast expertise as a top tier service provider. Expanding our presence in this market remains a key priority for Telstra’s Global Enterprise and Services business and we are investing heavily to bring the best solutions and technology to market for broadcast customers,”
Dom Wedgwood, Perform Group’s director of content operations, said “Perform is delighted to be working with Telstra.
“This new partnership enables us to deliver more WTA matches, to more clients globally, than ever before. Working with Telstra brings significant benefits as we continue to grow the Perform Sports Cloud.”
In addition to the WTA solution, Telstra has also signed a contract with Perform Group for core global network solutions which strengthens Telstra’s partnership with Perform Group into the future.
