Telstra to broadcast Women’s Tennis Association tournaments for Perform Group globally from 2017

Telstra to broadcast Women’s Tennis Association
tournaments for Perform Group globally from 2017

SINGAPORE – 23 January 2017 – 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 – the
largest in the history of women’s sports) partnership with WTA, 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.

“Having commenced the year-round WTA
2017 schedule at the Brisbane International, 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.”

“Supporting an event of WTA’s global
scale is a step-change for Telstra Broadcast Services and 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 Telstra is 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.