Most lucrative media rights agreement in women's sport

In December 2014, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and PERFORM announced a live media rights deal worth more than $525 million (£336.5 million). The 10-year agreement, which will run from 2017 to 2026, promises to "deliver unprecedented premium content to tennis fans worldwide" under the WTA Media banner, including the broadcast of all 2,000 main draw singles matches on the WTA calendar and the semi-finals and finals of all doubles matches. According to a WTA press release, the agreement "will improve the fan experience by making it easier to consistently follow your favourite WTA players throughout the year as they travel the 'Road to Singapore' [the season-ending WTA tournament]."

Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA: "This is a game-changing and historic moment for our fans and for women's sport. PERFORM's unprecedented investment in the WTA signals a new era - not only for women's tennis but also for women's professional sports the world around."

Under the current deal with PERFORM, approximately one-third of women's singles matches are broadcast annually. PERFORM will invest a reported $33 million (£21.1 million) in annual TV rights alone - almost double the current level of investment - to secure year-round coverage at women's singles tournaments from 2017.

WTA Media will deliver coverage on TV, the internet, hand-held devices and social media.

The WTA Tour is currently broadcast on BT Sport, in a deal that runs until 2016.

Perform Group plc is a sports media company headquartered in Feltham, London. Clients include the Serie A soccer league in Italy and Chelsea F.C. in England.

Prize money on the WTA Tour rose to an all-time high of $120 million (£76.9 million) in 2015, as top-ranked players such as Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and rising stars like Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard continued to raise the profile of the women's game around the world.

The WTA/PERFORM agreement is dwarfed by TV broadcasting deals for some men's sports, most notably soccer, basketball and American football. In November 2013, BT Sport announced an £897-million ($1.39 billion) deal to broadcast Champions League and Europa League matches, and Sky Sports' current Premier League soccer package is worth £760 million ($1.18 billion). Topping the lot are ESPN, who, in 2014, secured the rights to broadcast the NFL's popular Monday Night Football show for a staggering $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) per year until 2021.