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The Scoop: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16
Tennis Channel plans May 15 launch from Hamburg
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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| Tennis Channel President Steve Bellamy, left, and CEO David Meister |
The Tennis Channel says it will launch on 3 a.m. PST on May 15 at the Tennis Masters Series Hamburg, midway through the one of ATP Tour's most important clay court events.
The 24-hour-a-day channel has already missed a chance to broadcast this week's Tennis Master Series Monte Carlo and will not broadcast the men's tournament in Houston – another event it owns the rights to. But, it will broadcast the U.S.- Czech Republic Fed Cup tie on April 26 as part of a 19-day "sneak preview," which its distributors have the option of picking up or not.
The channel says it has signed deals with Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and National Cable Television Cooperative, which it claims represent 47 percent of U.S. cable households. The company projects more than 3 million cable subscribers will have access to the channel at or near launch.
The company also brought in a number of new partners in the form of venture capital firms Apollo Partners and DND Capital Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, Columbia Capital, JP Morgan Partners, Waterview Advisors and EdsLink.
Tennis Channel President Steve Bellamy and CEO David Meister refused to discuss how much of the company they gave to venture capitalists in exchange for financing.
ROME AND AMERICAN TOURNAMENTS SCHEDULED
After Hamburg, the Tennis Channel will broadcast the Tennis Masters Series Roma and then an undermined amount of U.S. summer hard court events, including Newport, Stanford and Carson.
"The Tennis Channel promises to bring more of the world's blockbuster tennis championships to living rooms across America," said Bellamy.
Meister said Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi – both Tennis Channel investors – will make their presence known on broadcasts. Meister added that Sampras has come up with the idea of letting the channel film a day in his life.
The Tennis Channel has the telecast rights for all Fed Cup matches from around the world, all non-U.S. matches in the Davis Cup and the Hopman Cup. It also owns the rights to the European tennis Masters Series tournaments.
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