BBC Motion Gallery, the archive sales arm of BBC Worldwide, has bolstered its specialist sports footage by signing a key distribution deal with the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The five-year, global, archive representation agreements supplement the 70,000 hours of BBC Sport content already represented by BBC Motion Gallery.
This deal will see BBC Motion Gallery exclusively distribute footage from the ITF’s three major international team competitions; Davis Cup by BNP Paribas – the largest annual international team competition in sport, Fed Cup by BNP Paribas – the premier competition in women’s tennis and tennis’s only mixed team competition, the Hyundai Hopman Cup.
This collaboration will give clients access to clips of top players in world tennis both past and present, including historic matches played by sporting greats such as Fred Perry, Rene Lacoste, Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Roger Federer, Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Footage available will include Tim Henman’s victorious last-ever match for Britain against Croatia in the Davis Cup at Wimbledon in 2007, scenes from the 1982 World Group Quarter Final between USA and Sweden during which the longest match in tennis history took place (six hours 22 minutes) between John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, and Andy Roddick’s record-breaking fastest serve in the USA’s first round tie at home to Austria in 2004.
Mark Shannon, Sports Archive Manager, said: “This is a fantastic deal for BBC Motion Gallery. This footage has a global appeal which is of huge importance as Motion Gallery grows its overseas presence. We are delighted to add world class tennis to our existing portfolio of specialist sports footage.”
“The BBC is a long-standing broadcasting partner of the ITF and we’re happy to extend our relationship with one of the world’s most innovative media companies.” said Jan Menneken, ITF Commercial Director. “Over the years, the BBC has been an avid supporter of tennis and the BBC Motion Gallery deal provides a great opportunity to take our archive business to the next level.”
