DIRECTV Serves Up Exclusive Coverage of the French Open
DIRECTV Serves Up Exclusive 4K UHD Coverage of 2021 Roland-Garros
For the first time ever, U.S. tennis fans can enjoy every round on the rich, red clay of the 125th Roland-Garros French Open in 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) on DIRECTV. 4K coverage on DIRECTV starts with opening play on May 30 and runs through the June 12-13 finals.
DIRECTV is also the exclusive home of the Grand Slam DIRECTV Experience, anchored by an HD mosaic channel featuring as many as six matches at the same time, a ticker with real-time scores and commentary, interactive leaderboard and tournament draw, and other customizable features. This is in addition to 4K UHD content on five dedicated DIRECTV channels (Ch. 104-108). In addition to significantly more early round competition in 4K, fans will also receive the entire complement of men's and women's semifinals and finals for the first time, courtesy of new agreements with producers Tennis Channel and NBC Sports.
"Bringing together the top players in arguably the most grueling tennis tournament in the world with incredible 4K UHD video quality that puts you inside the experience is the best match-up in tennis," said Rob Thun, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, DIRECTV.
All told, DIRECTV will offer a full 13 days and more than 140 hours of 4K UHD coverage from Roland-Garros, starting with Tennis Channel's First Round May 30-June 1; Second Round June 2-3; Third Round June 4-5; Round of 16 June 6-7; Quarterfinals June 8-9; with both Tennis Channel and NBC sharing the women's and men's Semifinals June 10-11 and NBC closing it out with the women's and men's finals June 12-13. This marks the first time DIRECTV and NBC Sports have offered the penultimate Roland-Garros finales in 4K UHD.
DIRECTV will likewise once again deliver its "Roland-Garros Experience" multiplexed across channels 901 through 907. The signature HD Mosaic displays six screens of live, enhanced coverage from five different courts, including the Phillipe Chartier, Suzanne Lenglen and Simone Matthieu courts. Each of the remaining channels feature individual matches drawn from various locales. Viewers of both the Mix and Court Channels, as well as the Tennis Channel and NBC simulcasts, can also access an interactive menu with recent match results, the complete men's and women's draw, player headshots and bios and several other features.
DIRECTV provides similar customizable and complementary interactive features for tennis’ Wimbledon, U.S. Open and the Australian Open; golf’s Grand Slam events including the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, The Masters; the NCAA men’s basketball tournament; NFL Sunday Ticket; MLB and other major events.
To view live 4K UHD telecasts on DIRECTV, customers need:
- A Genie HD DVR (model HR54 or later)
- DIRECTV 4K Ready TV, or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini. Additional & advanced receiver fees apply.
- DIRECTV SELECT package or higher, 4K account authorization and a professional installation.
