Tennis Channel Is Finally Becoming a Major Player

The Tennis Channel has just put itself on the sports television map. The Los Angeles-based channel, launched in 2003, announced Thursday that it has acquired the U.S. cable television rights to a Grand Slam event, the French Open, beginning next year.

Ken Solomon, chairman and chief executive of the Tennis Channel, likened the deal to Fox’s acquisition of NFL rights in the mid-1990s. Solomon worked for Fox at the time.

The deal means ESPN2, which has been televising weekday French Open matches since 2002, probably will no longer be involved in coverage of the event. ESPN2 could remain in the picture if a deal was reached with the Tennis Channel, which plans to sell a portion of its rights to a more widely distributed network. A partnership with USA, OLN or another cable entity is more likely.

According to a source, ESPN passed on renewing its deal with the French Open because of financial considerations.

“We have enjoyed televising the French Open and ESPN will continue its strong commitment to tennis,” read an ESPN statement.

ESPN networks still have about 500 hours of tennis a year, including Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the Indian Wells and Miami spring events and this summer’s U.S. Open series, which includes the recent tournaments at UCLA and the Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Tennis Channel is now in 10 million homes in the U.S., but the acquisition of cable rights to a Grand Slam event should increase that number significantly.

The Tennis Channel now has leverage.

“This is a major silver bullet,” Solomon said on his cellphone from New York.

The Tennis Channel, unable to reach a carriage agreement with DirecTV, is mainly available on a sports tier on such cable systems as Time Warner, Comcast and Charter. It is available in about 50 million homes, but only 10 million of those homes subscribe to the tier that also includes such networks as the Golf Channel, OLN, CSTV and Fox College Sports.

Solomon believes it won’t be difficult to persuade carriers to make the Tennis Channel available on basic cable during the French Open. He said because the Tennis Channel has round-the-clock tennis, it can cover many more matches than ESPN2 did. And it could show matches live for the hard-core fans, then repeat them in prime time for more casual fans.

The deal, which can run up to nine years, also includes broadband, wireless, video on demand and other new media applications.

NBC retains the rights to weekend coverage.

A New Way to Watch Tennis

The U.S. Open begins Monday, and DirecTV subscribers can watch it not only on Channel 242, DirecTV’s USA Network channel, but also, for the first five days, on six additional channels.

DirecTV and USA have teamed to offer what is billed as U.S. Open Interactive. Channels 681-685 will offer coverage of matches other than those on USA’s main feed, and Channel 680 will feature all five of the other channels and the USA broadcast on one screen.

The service is free to DirecTV subscribers, and those with interactive receivers will have access to additional statistics and information.

“For tennis fans, this is the biggest advance since color television,” DirecTV executive vice president Eric Shanks said.