HomeNewsWiggin advises Perform on record rights deal with WTA

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Media law firm Wiggin has advised leading digital media company Perform on a long-term agreement with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to acquire the global audio-visual media rights, estimated to be worth more than $525m (£335m) over 10 years.  The deal has been described as the largest media rights deal in the history of women’s sport.

The agreement with the WTA will run from 2017 to 2026 and includes plans to produce every singles match, which is around 2,000 fixtures, for the first time.  Wiggin worked with the Perform legal and commercial teams throughout the negotiations which were part of a competitive tender process.

Wiggin Partner Ross Sylvester led the team who advised Perform on this deal.  Ross has previously also advised on other recent high-profile deals in the sports rights sector which include Virgin Media’s distribution deals with BSkyB and BT Sport, Manchester United’s distribution of MUTV on the Sky platform and the acquisition by News UK and News Corp of premium sports clip rights for exploitation in the UK and Asia.