As TNT Sports said goodbye to the NBA, it welcomed the French Open. That’s not exactly an apples-to-apples exchange, but the Grand Slam is one of the company’s new sports properties that can cushion the blow of losing the rights to one of the major U.S. sports leagues.
Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to a 10-year, $650 million media deal for the French Open last June, taking it away from NBC (and the Tennis Channel) a month before Comcast would swoop in and take back the rights to the NBA.
The first eight days of WBD’s coverage of the 2025 French Open have been ostensibly strong, averaging 292,000 viewers on TNT, a 23% increase from last year. When adding truTV and Max, WBD announced it saw a 53% increase in total hours watched.
Viewership peaked at 840,000 viewers during Sunday’s match between world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and American Ben Shelton.
Despite the increase, the numbers aren’t exactly eye-popping compared to the millions drawn by the NBA. But the first week still brought more viewers to the cable channel, as Roland-Garros coverage through the first week was up 67% versus comparable broadcast windows last year. Given that most matches in Paris air in the morning and early afternoon in the U.S., TNT’s comparison was mostly against reruns of TV shows or movies.
Year 1 Gift
Expect WBD to post an even better week of ratings after being gifted with some strong matchups and U.S. representation. Four Americans advanced to the quarterfinals, including Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe, the first time multiple men have made the final eight at the French Open since 1995.
American and world No. 2 Coco Gauff also advanced to the women’s singles final and has a chance to be the first U.S. player to win the French Open since Serena Williams accomplished it in 2015. She will face a tough test battling top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka.
The men’s semifinals are Friday, but the final could also feature the top two players, as both Jannik Sinner (No. 1) and Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2) are still in contention. The two have a budding rivalry that should bring in many viewers. Sinner could lose in the semis to Novak Djokovic, in which case the Serbian would be chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title at the finale Sunday.
