Maria Sharapova, WTA Stuttgart Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, 2017
Maria Sharapova - 2017 WTA Mutua Madrid Open (c) Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

WTA TV makes its appearance at end July – 5 Things You Need to Know

 

By Ros Satar

  • New WTA TV Livestreaming Service finally launches on 31 July
  • Already in operation but will start streaming live from Stanford and Washington

 

USA – Originally scheduled for Miami, and now in time for the US Open Series, WTA TV will be launched at the end of the month.

 

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It has been a long time coming, amid a lot of criticism from fans for its delay, but finally the WTA has announced the arrival of WTA TV, at the end of July.

 

What is WTA TV?

It is a subscription service to be able to stream WTA matches live to a computer, tablet or mobile. The service is currently browser based and has been developed in collaboration with WTA Media partner, The Perform Group

 

When is it available?

Even though it appears to show courts available for the current tournaments in Bastad and Sweden, from 31 July it will launch officially for the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford and the Citi Open in Washington as we gather pace for the last Grand Slam of the year.

WTA TV has committed to show up to 1000 live matches for the remainder of the 2017 season, and from 2018 more than 2000 live matches for a full season.

 

How do we get it?

Sign up is open now and the prices look fairly reasonable in comparison to TennisTV.

  • Monthly Pass: £7.81 (TennisTV £9.99)
  • Yearly Pass: £58.60 (TennisTV £89.99)

 

That sounds OK! What’s the Catch?

Well, the catch is if you have already signed up to Tennis TV for the ATP coverage, and maybe add to that Eurosport Player for Grand Slam matches and Sky Go for those who pay for the privilege, then your average UK sports watcher could be shelling out quite a lot.

In the Features section, the archives stretch back to the start of the year with highlighted/featured matches. Be aware that as with TennisTV, there may be Geo-blocking depending on your location.

In their press release, Steve Simon, WTA CEO and Chairman, said, “Fans want more content and 24/7 access. We are investing heavily to develop a strong digital eco-system that caters for the new ways fans are consuming WTA related content. Our goal is to provide fans the means to follow the tour and to watch WTA matches on the best screen available to them, wherever they are.”

 

Sign Me UP!

If all that has not put you off – Click on WTA TV  to sign up, and what is good is that it boasts multi-match viewing that seems to have been absent from TennisTV since the split. This was always a great feature when the two tours were combined, and if that is a solid feature of WTA TV, then this scores one over it’s previous home.

Click for the full WTA 2018 Schedule

Main Image Credit: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography