Roland Garros is already taking place, the most important clay court tournament in the annual tennis calendar, both for ATP players and WTA players. This week the final stretch arrives and luckily we will be able to see at least two tennis matches on a DTT channel.
The so-called Law of General Interest (General Law of Audiovisual Communication) delimits the sporting events that must be broadcast in the open, either live or delayed. Luckily, Roland Garros is among them, so this week you will be able to enjoy at least two games without having to subscribe to Eurosport, who owns the rights and broadcasts all of them.
In open by the Law of General Interest
As happened last weekend with the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix, Roland Garros is included in the calendar that is held every two years to find out which sporting events are considered of general interest and, therefore, must be protected for the bulk of the citizenry.
This implies that the State Council of Audiovisual Media must establish, through a reasoned decision, a biennial catalog containing events of general interest to society that are to be broadcast on free-to-air television with state coverage.
Specifically, the latest revision, still in force, considers that all these events must be able to be seen on DTT:
- The official matches of the Absolute Spanish Soccer and Basketball Team.
- The semifinals and the final of the Eurocup and the World Cup.
- The final of the soccer Champions League and the soccer Copa del Rey.
- One match per day of the First Division Professional Soccer League, designated by it at least 10 days in advance.
- Motorsport Grand Prix held in Spain.
- Motorcycle Grand Prix held in Spain.
- Participation of the Spanish National Team in the European and World Handball Championships.
- Cycling round to spain.
- The Cycling World Championship.
- Spanish participation in the Davis Cup of tennis.
- The participation of Spanish tennis players in the semifinals and the final of Roland Garros.
- Spanish participation in the World and European Athletics and Swimming Championships.
- Grand prizes or national and international competitions that are held in Spain and have a state or regional public subsidy.
Roland Garros matches to be broadcast
As we can read in point 11 of the previous section, the male and female final will necessarily be broadcast. These will be held on Saturday 10 (Suzanne Cup) and Sunday June 11 (Musketeers Cup) at 3:00 p.m. in both cases. The DMAX channel of DTT will be in charge of its retransmission, starting half an hour before the start.
The possibility of issuing the semifinals is also contemplated, provided that a tennis player of Spanish nationality participates in them. Right now, the only Spaniard in contention is Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s draw, who will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals on June 6. In case of beating the Greek tennis player, the world number 1 would also play his semifinals on DMAX on June 8.