MUMBAI: Sports marketing agency Total Sports Asia has announced a deal for one of the tennis Grand Slams the US Open.
 

TSA reached an agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA). This gives TSA the exclusive Asian television rights (Japan excluded) to the event for the next four years. The agreement also includes further rights to classic matches, mobile content and video distribution.

TSA CEO Marcus Luer says, “This marquee property fits well within TSA’s current portfolio. There has been a resurgence of the game in Asia and public interest has been heightened through players such as Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand), Hyung-Taik Lee (Korea), Sania Mizra (India), Shuai Peng and Li Na (China).

" Asian tennis players are becoming a force to be reckoned with and this is only set to improve with the newer players making their way through the ranks. As a result we are thrilled to be working with one of the world’s premier tennis competitions and look forward to building this brand in Asia with our new partners USTA and Clear Channel”

As had been reported earlier this month by Indiantelevision.com Ten Sports acquired the telecast rights for the US Open, adding a further property to its tennis programming. The sports channel already has the rights to the French Open. Coming back to TSA the organisation is taking part in the sports television market Sportel Asia. The event kicked off today 14 March in Hong Kong.

TSA will be marketing popular properties from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and football properties from Traffic, such as the Copa Libertadores, South American and Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers, including final World Cup play-off matches between Concacaf and AFC Qualifiers, Conmebol and Oceania Qualifiers. In addition, TSA will be looking for new content for TV and mobile rights distribution.

At Sportel Asia TSA will also be marketing the 7th World Games (14-24 July, 2005) through its exclusive agency agreement with Wige Media. The World Games provides an opportunity for athletes to compete and represent their countries at international level in a variety of disciplines not currently included in the Olympic programme. The event in Duisburg, Germany will see sports include pool, body building, sport aerobics, bowling, squash, rugby sevens and surfing.