UK tennis fans will be able to watch live coverage of tonight’s US Open tennis final on Channel 4 after the broadcaster secured a last-minute deal to share the broadcast with Amazon Prime Video.
Brit viewers will be able to cheer on 18-year-old sensation Emma Raducanu as she makes her first Grand Slam final appearance against fellow fast-rising teen Leylah Fernandez of Canada.
As a result of the deal — which is speculated to be in the seven-figure range — struck with Amazon Prime Video, Channel 4 will take the streaming giant’s live feed and broadcast it free to air on Channel 4.
Prime Video has said it will reinvest all fees from the Channel 4 agreement into British women’s tennis.
Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “Emma’s meteoric rise to secure a place in the US Open Final is just sensational. We’re glad to have worked with Prime Video and pulled out all the stops to get it on air and I’m sure viewers will be thrilled at the prospect of watching Emma in this Grand Slam final.”
Raducanu is the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.
Watch on Deadline
Katz added about the deal: “We didn’t know we’d secured the deal until late on Friday night and so many people have gone above and beyond to make it happen.”
Earlier this year Channel 4 secured a similar coup when it showed live TV coverage of England’s Test series against India. It was the first time live Test cricket had been on free to air TV in the UK since Channel 4 showed England’s Ashes win in 2005.