“The Big Joke”. On Twitter, many Internet users would have liked to see the sublime point of Carlos Alcaraz, against Flavio Cobolli, who saw the Spaniard hit the net. But unlike Internet users residing in the United States or Brazil, they were not entitled to it. At least, on the official Roland-Garros Twitter account, which does not allow the video to be played from France. “This video is not available in your region”, we can read.
geoblocking
Since the start of the Parisian tournament, the official Roland-Garros Twitter account has regularly made video excerpts of the matches inaccessible from France, especially when it comes to shots identical to those that can be found on television. On the night of May 30, more than twenty extracts are effectively “geo-blocked” (blocking set for certain geographic areas), Tech&Co.
A situation that causes misunderstandings among tennis fans, evoking a free broadcast on France Télévisions. As a reminder, the French Tennis Federation (FFT), in charge of organizing the tournament, has signed commercial agreements, the amounts of which are not public, with France Télévisions and Amazon (through its Prime Video service). Two announcers who will share the tournament until 2027 – There are also many excerpts from the matches in the accounts of these announcers.
In fact, these contracts include clauses that also refer to distribution on social networks, starting with Twitter and Facebook. As sports rights are negotiated by country, the most likely hypothesis is that the FFT has also transferred these broadcast elements to its commercial partners for France.
A highly probable hypothesis, which the FFT, however, did not want to mention. Questioned by Tech&Co, the Roland-Garros organization refused to explain the reasons for this blocking of content in France through its official Twitter account.
Source: BFM TV
