Amazon Prime Video are making another move to expand their sporting coverage by taking the rights to the regular tour of women's tennis from next year.

Tennis staff at BT Sport have been informed by email that they will not be showing the main WTA circuit after this season, with the broadcasting arm of the online retail behemoth taking over.

It is another retreat from sport for BT, who have held the rights since 2013, and a further acquisition for Amazon, who already have the US Open and the main ATP Tour but not any of the three other Grand Slams yet.

Amazon Prime is to take control of the rights for the regular women's tour from next season

Last year they are reliably said to have offered £11million for the regular men's tour, their bid doubling that of Sky.

It has meant a loss of visibility in the UK and Ireland for tennis throughout the year and the same thing can be expected for the WTA Tour, who have sacrificed that for more money upfront.

Among the complaints about Amazon is that their coverage has been difficult to find, although they are hoping to remedy this by instituting a specialist sports channel.

World No 1 Naomi Osaka and other WTA players have seen matches previously on BT Sport

This coming Christmas they will be going for something far more significant by showing Premier League football for the first time.

Sportsmail understands that the Amazon in Germany, which is their biggest market in Europe along with the UK, bid for the rights to show Wimbledon there but were rejected.

The All England Club, which does not need the money in the same way as the WTA Tour, felt that they did not want The Championships to suffer lower visibility in such an important tennis country.

It is, however, indicative of Amazon's ambition, and it would not be a surprise if they attempted to secure rights to the Australian or French Opens in the near future. These are currently held by Eurosport and ITV respectively.