French tennis bids fall short

The French tennis federation, the FFS, has expressed disappointment after failing to secure what it said were acceptable offers for rights to broadcast the Roland Garros French Open tennis championship for the 2014-18 period, according to local reports.

Gilbert Ysern, director general of the FFS, cited by financial daily Les Echos, said the organisation had only received two offers by its deadline yesterday. Eurosport placed a bid for packages A and C that the FFS said was far short of the reserve price, while public broadcaster France Télévisions placed a bid for all three packages on offer, which the FFS said was against its rules and could not be considered.

The FFS had set a reported €15 million reserve price, with one of the three packages on offer reserved for free-to-air TV. No offers were received from pay TV leader Canal+ or rival beIN Sport.