Sinclair reported lower net income in the first quarter as distribution revenues rose and ad revenue — excluding political spending — dipped.

Net income fell to $23 million, or 35 cents a share, from $185 million, or $2.65 a share a year ago. 

A year ago, Sinclair had a tax benefit of $204 million in the quarter. Income before taxes was $21 million, compared to a loss of $11 million in Q1 2023.

Revenues increased 3% to $798 million. Media revenues also increased 3%, reaching $792 million.

Advertising revenues rose 4% to $321 million. Core ad revenues — excluding political spending — were down 3% to $297 million.

Sinclair sold $24 million in political advertising during the first quarter and as of May 1 had prebooked $77 million in political ads through Election Day. That compares to $21 million at the same point in 2020 and $28 million in 2022.

Distribution revenue rose 2% to $436 million.

Sincialr’s Tennis Channel contributed adjusted EBITDA of $25 million in the quarter on revenues of $63 million. Ad revenue was $9 million.

For the second quarter, Sinclair said it expects total revenues to be between $823 million and $843 million and ad revenues to be between $341 million and $358 million. That would include $29 million to $35 million in political ad revenue.

"Sinclair delivered solid first-quarter results, meeting guidance expectations in our local media segment and exceeding adjusted EBITDA expectations at Tennis Channel in the quarter,” CEO Chris Ripley said. “Core advertising trends remain solid in most categories, with our effective yield management and sales training processes driving industry-leading core growth over the past several quarters.

“In summary, Sinclair is in a strong position for both the short and long term, with our emphasis on growing net retransmission revenues and maintaining industry leadership in core advertising revenue growth,” he continued. “We have laid the groundwork for a promising future, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of us.”

Tennis Channel is lining up to play on multiple distribution courts in 2024 as it looks to serve its hard-core viewers wherever and whenever they want to see live tennis and pickleball action, network president Ken Solomon said. 

The Sinclair-owned service is planning to launch a direct-to-consumer offering this year to complement its lineup of the Tennis Channel linear service, its Pickleballtv and T2 FAST Channels and its Tennis Channel Plus SVOD service. 

“The mission is to bring the sport to life fully and let everyone who might potentially be a fan find out if they want to be,” he said. “It used to be very hard to do because only a fraction of the sport was on television.”

Also Read: Sinclair Putting Tennis Channel’s T2 On NextGen Broadcast Channels

Click below to hear more of the interview with Ken Solomon on the latest episode of the “TV Sportsplay” podcast.

Sinclair Broadcast Group said its television stations will be carrying Tennis Channel's T2 network on virtual channels available using the NextGen broadcast standard.

T2, aimed at younger adult viewers, will be available free and over the air in 43 markets where Sinclair stations are broadcast using the new ATSC 3.0 technology.

“With this new NextGen broadcast platform that Sinclair is leading the way in introducing, people all over the country will have more ways to watch live, top-tier professional sports around the clock, with the best players in the world, all year long,” said Ken Solomon, president of Tennis Channel, which is owned by Sinclair.
"This means hours and hours of daily, continuous play and original programming that only exists on T2.”

T2 programming will use Advanced HDR by Technicolor, which gives viewers better contrast, higher brightness and a wider range of colors. 

“We are excited to expand the reach of T2, improve the viewer experience with HDR, and extend our flexible cloud distribution strategies,” said Mike Kralec, Sinclair’s Chief Technology Officer. “Delivering high quality programming via connected smart TV provides an initial path for distribution that can precede that same programming eventually being received over-the-air.”

Tennis Channel said it has hired Matt Graham as senior VP, direct to consumer and streaming business development, a new post at the Sinclair-owned network.

Graham previously had been general manager of AMC Networks’ streaming services Acorn TV and Sundance Now.

In his new role, Graham will head Tennis Channel’s efforts to make the network available directly to consumers via a new streaming platform planned for 2024.

Graham will be based in Los Angeles and report to executive VP, chief operating officer and chief financial officer Bill Simon. He will also work with Tennis Channel president Ken Solomon in the development and launch of the DTC product.

“Matt’s decades of experience in the worlds of traditional and evolving media make him unique to guide Tennis Channel’s availability in every American home — and then who knows from there?” Simon said. “He’s created successful streaming platforms, programmed them to grow their subscriber bases and expanded them into new marketplaces. For years, fans have been asking us if there’s a way for them to just buy Tennis Channel and Matt’s here to make that happen.”

Before joining AMC, Graham was with PBS Digital, where he started up PBS Digital Studios.

Tennis Channel and the Carvana Professional Pickleball Association have served up a new streaming service dedicated to the emerging paddle sport.

The service, Pickleballtv (PBTV), launched this week on Amazon Freevee and FuboTV with a lineup that will feature more than 30 top-level live PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball team events, as well as original programming and a weekly studio show, according to Tennis Channel officials. On tap during launch week is coverage of the PPA Tour National Championships in Dallas.

The launch comes on the heels of a September joint venture between the two parties through which Sinclair-owned Tennis Channel will produce all PPA Tour events for the PPA Tour and that gives the network distribution rights to live  matches.

“Tennis Channel and the PPA Tour are doing something that hasn’t been done before — taking a fast-growing sport in its infancy and attaching an experienced, state-of-the-art media arm to its development in the form of Pickleballtv,” Tennis Channel president Ken Solomon said in a statement. “We have no doubt that 24/7, consistent, daily coverage of the best players, events and news on a dedicated pickleball channel will generate new fans and give existing ones a place to call home, thus expanding the sport’s overall reach and global popularity."

PPA Tour founder and CEO Connor Pardoe added: “The PPA Tour has worked in lockstep with Tennis Channel, and we’re proud to launch Pickleballtv coinciding with the largest tournament in pickleball history.” 

Tennis Channel said it selected Sportradar to help serve up a new direct-to-consumer streaming platform, set to launch early next year.

The service will include Sinclair-owned Tennis Channel’s linear channel along with live and on-demand matches and other original programming.

“Tennis fans in the U.S. deserve a dynamic viewing experience that delivers the best tennis content and live matches right to their fingertips,“ Sportradar senior VP, audiovisual Patrick Mostboeck said. “With Sportradar’s industry-leading data-driven, end-to-end OTT solution, Tennis Channel will have all the tools and capabilities to meet the needs of their fans all over the U.S. We are thrilled to work closely with Tennis Channel to deliver a platform that allows them to continue to grow engagement with the sport of tennis.” 

Also Read: Tennis Channel Earned $8 Million on $60 Million in Revenue in Q2

Sportradar has worked with Tennis Channel since 2019, providing data and supporting its international over-the-top platform.

The new streaming service will use Sportradar technologies including user experience design, and development of connected TV apps. It will feature multichannel video programming distributor integration for authenticated cable customers and dynamic advertising capabilities.

“Tennis Channel has a longstanding relationship with Sportradar as we’ve worked together to bring Tennis Channel’s unparalleled coverage of the sport of tennis to markets outside the U.S.,“ Tennis Channel International senior VP Andy Reif said. “Now, we’re extremely excited to work with them to bring our flagship linear Tennis Channel directly to tennis fans throughout the U.S. via a new, best-in-class streaming platform, something they haven’t had the chance to enjoy before.”

Tennis Channel said it will be launching a pickleball channel as part of a deal to form a joint venture with the Professional Pickleball Association.

As part of the arrangement Tennis Channel, owned by Sinclair, will be airing most of the PPA Tour matches on its platforms, will serve as the PPA’s media arm handling integrated ad sales efforts, and will produce all events for the PPA Tour.

The upcoming standalone channel will be called Pickleballtv and will start out as a free, ad-supported streaming TV channel. Eventually, there will also be an on-demand service featuring live and previously played matches.

Sinclair Ventures has an option to invest in the parent company of the PPA tour as part of the deal.

“This is an exciting moment in the ongoing evolution of the Carvana PPA Tour,” Tom Dundon, owner of Pickleball.com and the Professional Pickleball Association, said. “There’s no company in the world that’s as well positioned as Tennis Channel to immediately capitalize and expand upon the current pickleball explosion and the early success of the PPA Tour. Their model is unique in sportscasting, and we couldn’t be happier to work with them to develop a consistent, reliable home for current pickleball fans and others to come.”

Tennis Channel and PPA said they will work to combine the tour’s year-long premier pickleball competition and the network’s media infrastructure to maximize the PPA Tour’s leverage while increasing the popularity of and participation in the sport in the United States and abroad. 

“Tom and (PPA Tour CEO Connor Pardoe) and their teams have created the gold standard in pickleball,” Tennis Channel president Ken Solomon said. “The future of any sport is driven by its media approach. Tennis Channel has spent two decades streamlining the sheer volume of tennis, its tours and its schedules in an easy-to-follow system across popular platforms. Now we’re going to apply that same hub-and-spoke model to show people how compelling pickleball and its stars are at the professional level.”

Sinclair said Tennis Channel served up $8 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), in the second quarter.

The network’s finances hadn’t been disclosed before, but Sinclair recently reorganized and has vowed to be more transparent for investors. The numbers were part of Sinclair's Q2 earnings report.

Tennis Channel’s revenues were $60 million in the quarter.

Sinclair said it expects revenues for fiscal year 2023 to be in the $223 million to $226 million range.

EBITDA for the year is expected to be between $53 million and $56 million.

The numbers include Tennis Channel’s direct-to-consumer business, Tennis Channel International, T2 and Pickleball.

Sinclair noted that Hulu agreed to add Tennis Channel and T2 to its streaming service in January.

Sinclair said it made a distribution deal with Hulu to beginning carrying Sinclair’s Tennis Channel, T2, Comet and Charge! to streaming subscribers.

The channels will be available on Hulu Plus Live TV starting in January.

Also Read: Sinclair Says Its Digital Networks Will Add 2.4 Million Homes This Year

Hulu Plus Live TV carries Sinclair’s TV stations under a separate agreement. Sinclair’s ABC affiliates were blacked out for about a month earlier this year as broadcast stations and networks worked out how carriage agreements with virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like Hulu Plus Live TV are handled

Hulu stopped carrying Sinclair’s regional sports networks in 2020. Diamond Sports, the Sinclair division that runs the RSN business, declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

The live TV sports calendar for the first weekend in June starts on the ice as TNT drops the puck on the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. 

TNT, along with TBS and truTV, will carry Game One of the Florida Panthers-Vegas Golden Knights NHL Stanley Cup series. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned networks will air every game of the NHL finals after ABC aired last year’s Colorado Avalanche-Tampa Bay Lightening Stanley Cup series.

Also: TNT Hopes Its First Stanley Cup Finals Will Maintain Hockey’s Ratings Momentum

The NBA Finals continue on ABC Sunday night as the Miami Heat look to even up its series with the Denver Nuggets after losing the first game on Thursday. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock Sunday morning will stream the St. Louis Cardinals-Pittsburgh Pirates game, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will feature long-time interleague rivals the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Week eight of the USFL Football league begins Saturday with coverage of the Houston Gamblers-Pittsburgh Maulers game on USA Network and the Philadelphia Stars-Birmingham Stallions on NBC. Sunday’s action includes Fox’s telecasts of the Memphis Showboats-New Jersey Generals and Michigan Panthers-New Orleans Breakers games. 

On the links, CBS and the Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the final rounds of PGA Memorial golf tournament, while on the tennis court NBC and Tennis Channel will offer live coverage of the French Open.

In the octagon, ESPN on Saturday will televise a UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event bout between flyweights Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi.  

Value-priced streamer Vidgo said it reached an agreement to carry Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Tennis Channel to a lineup of more than 150 channels.

The launch of the Tennis Channels enables Vidgo subscribers to watch action from the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open.

“Vidgo’s streaming platform is a favorite for dyed-in-the-wool live sports fans,” said Derek Mattsson, CEO of Vidgo. “Tennis Channel is one of our most important additions to expand our lineup of live sports because it features some of the world’s best athletes, entertaining and thrilling fans for hours in what I believe it one of the most exciting spectator sports around.  Tennis Channel is the perfect complement extensive sports lineup, and I can proudly say we are now the best sports streaming service with the best value overall.” 

Vidgo said its lineup includes more than 35 sports channels, offering soccer, NFL, XFL, NBA and NASCAR action. ■

“We’re pleased to work with Vidgo to make Tennis Channel available to their growing subscriber base,” said Lee Schlazer, senior VP distribution, Sinclair Broadcast Group. “As streaming options continue to rise in popularity, our goal remains the same – to bring Tennis Channel’s unrivaled coverage to people wherever they want to experience it. With two of the biggest tournaments in professional tennis taking place here in the United States in March, this couldn’t have happened at a better time for Vidgo customers.”

Also Read: Streaming TV Service Vidgo Updates Graphics, User Interface

Vidgo packages include Vidgo Plus at $64.95 per month, Vidgo Premium at $79.95 per month, Vidgo Ultimate at $99.95 per month and Spanish-language service Vidgo Mas at $39.95. ■

In the game of pickleball, if you can stand the heat, you need to stay out of the kitchen.

Tennis Channel’s coverage of pickleball, which is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, has been growing as well, with sometimes entire Sunday-afternoon lineups devoted to the Pro Pickleball Association (PPA) and its rapid racket-and-ball sport.

Now it will include a star turn.

The channel said Tuesday that it would be providing coverage of celebrity exhibition matches live on October 13 at 8 p.m. featuring former Dallas sports greats Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, as well as Texan Jordan Spieth, world No. 1 golfer and long-time Dallas resident Scottie Scheffler, and tennis serving sensation John Isner, also a Dallas resident.

That star lineup is Texas-heavy for a reason: The exhibition is being held during the PPA Tour Round Up in Dallas.

Tennis Channel will also be covering the Round Up October 16 at 1 p.m. ■

Federer anyone? Tennis Channel will air what is expected to be the final competitive match of tennis great Roger Federer on Friday (Sept. 23) as part of its coverage of the Laver Cup from London.

The 2 p.m. match will team Federer with fellow great Rafael Nadal against U.S. Open quarterfinalist Frances Tiafoe and Olympic doubles gold medalist Jack Sock.

Federer’s finale will also air on some of the Bally Sports networks co-owned with the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Tennis Channel, as well as T2, the ad-supported channel available on Samsung TV Plus — essentially to anyone with a Samsung TV made after 2017.

Federer is a 20-time major singles champion who announced his retirement at age 41 and with a knee injury that has sidelined him and resulted in multiple surgeries.

MSG Networks said it will have live coverage of the Federer match, which will air on MSG+ from 2-6 p.m. ■ 

Samsung has added three more channels to its Samsung TV Plus free, ad-supported streaming service.

Two of the channels are owned and programmed by Samsung. One is The Hotel Inspector, featuring a consultant who travels to struggling establishments and provides advice and suggestions that could revive their business. The other is called Plated, featuring top chefs including Gordon Ramsay chopping, sauteing, baking and flambéing their way to a perfect plate.

The third channel is ElectricNow, programmed by Electric Distribution, featuring action, adventure, fantasy and sci-fi shows including Leverage and The Librarians.

Also: Samsung TV Plus Launches Four Owned Topic-Based Channels

Samsung TV Plus offers more than 200 channels that are available on Samsung smart TVs and Galaxy devices.

Samsung also noted that Rucker’s Reno, which follows Darius Rucker as he renovates a landmark mansion in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, had been added to The Design Network and that fans will be able to watch the French Open on T2 from Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Tennis Channel. ■

The Indianapolis 500 revs up the lineup of TV sports events airing over the Memorial Day weekend.

NBC on Sunday will televise the 106th running of the venerable auto race from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year’s event will be highlighted by the appearance of NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson, who will compete in the IndyCar race for the first time.

Also on Sunday, Fox will televise the NASCAR Cup Coca-Cola 600 race, while ESPN airs the Formula One: Monaco Grand Prix race.

In the ring, Showtime on Saturday will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card headlined by the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero lightweight championship fight. 

Also: Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin Trilogy Bout Set for September; Showtime Laces up for Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero Fight 

On the ice, the NHL Playoffs continue Saturday on ESPN as the Carolina Panthers look to close out the New York Rangers in game 6 of their second-round Eastern Conference Playoff series.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast originates from New York as the Mets host the Philadelphia Phillies. Peacock’s Sunday-morning baseball game features the Cincinnati Reds hosting the San Francisco Giants.

On the links, NBC and the Golf Channel will air final round coverage of the Senior PGA Championship, while CBS and Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the PGA Charles Schwab Challenge. On the tennis court, NBC and Tennis Channel will provide weekend coverage of the French Open.

ABC on Saturday will offer WNBA coverage as the Las Vegas Aces meet the Chicago Sky, while CBS on Sunday will televise the Phoenix Mercury-Atlanta Dream game.  

The USFL heads into its seventh week with three weekend games, including Saturday’s New Jersey Generals-Tampa Bay Bandits (USA Network) and New Orleans Breakers-Michigan Panthers (FS1) contests, as well as Sunday’s Birmingham Stallions-Pittsburgh Maulers (Fox) game. ■

DirecTV is taking a big swing covering the 126th Roland Garros French Open tennis tournament.

Starting Sunday, the satellite TV provider will have seven separate channels dedicated to live action. 

DirecTV is also planning to air one women’s semifinal and one men’s semifinal and the men’s final and women’s final in 4K ultra high definition produced by NBC Sports.

“DirecTV is always looking to create the most immersive experience possible for all sports fans,” said Chief Content Officer Rob Thun. “Watching some of tennis’ all-time greats competing against an exciting field with new rising stars, culminating in semis and finals captured in brilliant 4K UHD from the red clay, is just about as good as it gets.”

DirecTV’s “Roland Garros Experience” will be anchored by a mosaic channel showing simultaneous actions, with channels focused on the match play on the Phillipe Chartier, Suzanne Lenglen and Simone Matthieu courts located outside Paris.

Viewers will also be able to access several on-demand enhancements to enable Grand Slam fans to call up up-to-the-minute match results; an onscreen ticker with real-time scores; the updated women’s and men’s tournament draw; individual player bios; and recent results.

Beyond DirecTV’s 4K coverage, the Tennis Channel, available to DirecTV subscribers, will also be providing French Open content. ■

Samsung TV Plus is getting its first channel featuring live sports, branded T2, which just so happens to also be the first free ad-supported channel being launched by the Tennis Channel in the U.S. 

According to its backers, the youth-targeted T2 will include matches from the men’s and women’s professional tennis tours -- the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association -- as well as select matches from the French Open and International Tennis Federation events.  Outside of live match coverage, other programing will include original short-form features and documentaries exclusive to T2.

Tennis Channel, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, operates FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus in Austria, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

“The demand for top-level sports programming has grown even stronger as media platforms continue to evolve, and we couldn’t be happier to usher in T2, our new FAST standard, with Samsung TV Plus,” said Ken Solomon, president, Tennis Channel.  “Thanks to the voluminous live-match content unique to tennis -- daily, global events around the clock with often overlapping multi-court coverage -- T2 lets millions of Americans watch live tennis from many of the world’s top events, all year long."

Samsung TV Plus is offered to users of newer model smart TVs and Galaxy mobile devices. It has more than 190 channels. 

Added Takashi Nakano, senior director of content acquisitions and business development for Samsung TV Plus: “We are excited to partner with Sinclair and welcome T2, the destination to watch live marquee tennis matches from around the world, exclusively on Samsung TV Plus. Adding live sports to our lineup gives our viewers even more choice and that’s what Samsung TV Plus is all about.”

Fox Weather, an ad-supported streaming platform that launches in the fall, will provide 15-second weather forecasts on Tennis Channel at the U.S. Open from Aug. 30 to Sept. 8. There will be one 15-second hit each morning on Tennis Channel Live at the U.S. Open, which airs at 10 a.m. ET. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns Tennis Channel. 

Nick Kosir, evening co-host at Fox Weather, will handle the forecasts. Before coming on board at the new network, he was morning meteorologist at the Fox affiliate WJZY Charlotte. 

Kosir is known as The Dancing Weatherman thanks to his viral dancing videos on social media. 

“Fox Weather is proud to work alongside The Tennis Channel, offering their viewers an inside look into our forthcoming service while providing dedicated forecasts surrounding this year’s US Open,” said Michael Tammero, senior VP of marketing and brand strategy, Fox News Media. “There’s no more vital component to outdoor sporting events than weather, so this is the perfect opportunity to showcase the incredible insights our new AVOD platform has to offer when it launches this fall.”

The Dancing Weatherman was hatched in 2019 during what Kosir told B+C at the time was “a boring stretch of weather.” Station management had suggested that talent show more of their personalities on the air, so Kosir did the Slide Like This Challenge, an internet dance trend at the time, on the morning program. 

“I’m not the best dancer in the world, but I think I can hit those moves,” he said.

Kosir has two million Instagram followers and 2.4 million more on TikTok. He completed his meteorology certification at Mississippi State University in 2010. 

The U.S. Open happens in the New York City borough of Queens. 

Sharri Berg is the president of Fox Weather. 

NASCAR's return to the airwaves highlights a diverse lineup of live sports events scheduled for the three-day weekend.

NASCAR launched its 2021 Cup Series this week, leading up to Fox’s live coverage of Sunday's Daytona 500 event. On Saturday, FS1 offers live coverage of NASCAR’s Xfinity Series as well as the ACRA Menards Series Racing event.  

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV

The Tennis Channel and ESPN2 will take the courts to offer three-day weekend coverage of the Australian Open, pro tennis' first of four Grand Slam events in 2021. On the greens, Golf Channel and CBS will tag team to provide weekend coverage of the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. 

On the combat sports front, ESPN Plus will offer live coverage of the UFC 258 pay-per-view event on Saturday, headlined by the Kamaru Usman-Gilbert Burns welterweight championship fight.

ABC will continue its Saturday night primetime NBA coverage with the Brooklyn Nets-Golden State Warriors contest, while NBC will offer Valentine’s Day NHL coverage of the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins game. 

Streaming service Peacock Premium will offer live weekend coverage of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations Championship Rugby tournament, while NBCSN provides live weekend coverage of four Premier League soccer contests.

Also Read: Six Nations Rugby on Peacock Premium. NBCSN

College basketball’s top-ranked team Gonzaga leads a heavy load of games over the holiday weekend. On Saturday, Gonzaga will travel to San Francisco to face the Dons on ESPN2, while fourth-ranked Ohio State hosts Indiana on ESPN, Fifth-ranked Villanova meets 19th-ranked Creighton on Fox and ninth-ranked Virginia plays North Carolina on ESPN. 

On Sunday, CBS will air the game between third-ranked Michigan and 21st-ranked Wisconsin. President’s Day will feature ninth-ranked Virginia against 17th ranked Florida State on ESPN.

Marquee Sports Network, the joint venture of the Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group will be airing live French Open Tennis coverage from Sinclair’s Tennis Channel as the baseball season winds down.

Live tennis matches will air daily for nine straight days from Roland Garros on the six-month-old regional sports network in the morning from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. CT.

“We are beyond excited to continue to offer live sports in bunches, as we move right from Cubs baseball to a major tennis tournament,” said Marquee Sports Network Programming Manager Allison Bertucci. “With a full slate of live sports and compelling original programming scheduled for the fall and winter, there will be plenty for Cubs fans and viewers to enjoy.

Related: Sportradar to Provide Stats, Graphics to Marquee Sports

Viewers will get 36 hours of tennis programming. Tennis Channel will provide unique content to Marquee and other Fox RSNs, including live play from outer course and expert commentary.

Earlier this year, Marquee Sports Network aired the first live American tennis competition following the pandemic. 

The channel also said it will be televising live college football games this fall.

Comcast and Sinclair Broadcast Group said they reached a multi-year renewal of their distribution agreement.

In addition to retransmission consent for 78 Sinclair stations in 51 markets, the new deal includes carriage of the new Marquee Network, which televises Chicago Cubs games, the YES Network, which has the New York Yankees, 18 Fox-branded regional sports networks and Tennis Channel.

Related: Comcast Makes Ninth-Inning Deal to Carry Marquee Sports

The deal comes as the baseball season is starting, enabling fans in those markets to watch games without disruption.

“With this agreement, Xfinity TV customers can continue to enjoy access to local news and sports content on Sinclair’s owned stations and networks across platforms, including on X1 – which delivers Xfinity customers an unmatched sports experience alongside on demand and streaming entertainment,” said Rebecca Heap, senior VP, Video and Entertainment, Comcast Cable.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to continue and expand our partnership with Comcast under which we provide a broad array of valuable programming to its subscribers, including our award-winning local news and sports programming,” commented Barry Faber, Sinclair’s president of distribution & network relations. Faber continued, “Sports are an important part of Sinclair and we are pleased that Comcast’s greater Chicago customers can join the list of passionate fans that enjoy Sinclair’s local sports programming.”  

Carriage of the Marquee Network was a major concern in the Chicago market, where Comcast is the dominant cable operator.

“By including Marquee in the broader Sinclair agreement, we’re now able to give our customers access to Cubs baseball in time for the start of the season,” said John Crowley, senior VP, Comcast Cable Greater Chicago Region.

"We welcome Comcast to the Marquee family and look forward to providing their customers the very best viewing experience and commentary, as they join Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies in rooting on the Cubs pursuit of another World Series Championship,” said Mike McCarthy, VP, general manager of Marquee.

Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS), Verizon’s multiscreen cloud video unit that’s part of Oath, said it has been selected by Tennis Channel to power the programmer’s app’s video delivery, including streaming support for both live and on-demand in 2018.

Financial terms were not announced, but Tennis Channel’s streaming of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this month is linked to the new agreement, which includes VDMS’s new Live Event Operations managed service, they said.

VDMS said it’s in position to help Tennis Channel’s app deliver more than 700 live tennis matches and more than 1,500 VOD assets throughout this year. That includes the French Open from Roland Garros in May. As the primary rights holder for that Grand Slam tournament, Tennis Channel plans to offer a stream from every court, and up to 16 simultaneous live streams.

The Tennis Channel app, which includes support for Tennis Channel Plus, is supported on several platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire.

It was not immediately clear how this new agreement between Tennis Channel and VDMS affects the programmer’s relationship with NeuLion. In 2015, NeuLion and Tennis Channel announced multi-year deal for live and VOD streaming, with NeuLion handling elements such as content ingestion, encoding, content security and monitoring.

NeuLion’s site currently lists partners that includes Poker Central, NFL, NBA, EFL, UFC, Big Ten Network, Univision and Eleven Sports. NeuLion, VDMS and Tennis Channel have been asked for further comment, though a statement from the network notes that VDMS has been integrated with its legacy systems.

“As we grow Tennis Channel’s app, Verizon Digital Media Services lets us deliver the exceptional streaming experiences our users have come to expect,” Adam Ware, senior vice president, head of digital and business development, Tennis Channel, said in a statement. “They’ve been flexible enough to integrate with our existing systems, with a 24-hour support team and Live Event Operations managed service that have helped us scale significantly.”

VDMS noted that its Uplynk Video Streaming service has been integrated with Tennis Channel's proprietary in-house scheduling and content management system, called Storyline, which enables game highlights to be published as VOD assets.

VDMS’s other known customers include Stadium Digital, Newsy, ABC/Disney, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Vice, Hearth Media Group, and go90, Verizon’s free, ad-supported OTT service.

Tennis Channel air live Serena Williams’ return to the court with its U.S. Fed Cup team coverage this weekend, the network said Thursday.

Williams, who last competed in the 2017 Australian Open before taking time off due to her pregnancy, will join sister Venus, CoCo Vandeweghe and Lauren Davis on the US Fed Cup team when it competes against the Netherlands. Tennis Channel said it will cover live two singles matches on Feb. 10, as well as two singles matches and a doubles match on Sunday.

Last year the U.S. team won the Fed Cup championship against Belarus.

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Lindsay Gardner has been around the block long enough to know what’s what in the programming business.

A veteran of both sides of the negotiating table, Gardner has probably forgotten more about the business than most will ever learn. He was at Fox Networks Group for eight years through 2007, eventually rising to president, affiliate sales and marketing, and spent six years at Cox Communications, including time as executive director, programming. He also served as executive director, planning and new business, at In Demand, the MSO-backed provider of pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.

Now as chief content officer for Layer3 TV, a startup that piggybacks a video service onto incumbent broadband networks, offering a full-freight video service and top-notch customer service it calls “concierge cable,” Gardner is entering a new chapter in a long and illustrious career. But even though the jobs and roles have changed over the years, Gardner has learned a very important lesson about the programming business: You don’t get what you don’t ask for, and you don’t get anything if you don’t ask nicely.

“[It’s] walking into [A+E Networks president of distribution] David Zagin’s office with my palms up and saying, ‘We love A+E, we love Lifetime, we love Viceland, would you work with us?’” Gardner said. “A lot of it is just asking, and everybody comes through.”

For Layer3 TV, that approach is forging unique partnerships with programmers. Gardner said he receives an unprecedented level of support from content providers, ranging from appearances by Nickelodeon characters at launches to billboards touting programming.

“ESPN has turned over its whole website homepage in our markets, promoting us,” Gardner added. “Pac-12 Networks takes out billboards screaming that we’re the exclusive place to find the USCUCLA baseball game in HD. Right down the line, partly because we’re new — and they love that we carry all of their channels in HD, that we have the best picture quality, that our guide seems to have licked and solved the problem of there’s 500 channels and nothing on — and partly because we’ve asked nicely.”

Layer3 TV currently is available in five markets — Chicago; Los Angeles; Washington; Dallas, Texas; and Longmont, Colo. — and is readying a sixth launch in New York. The service offers about 250 channels, including several in 4K with more to come.

The product is unique in that, in a climate where every new entrant is touting lower costs and skinnier packages, Layer3 TV is offering more. Gardner said that’s just what its customers want.

“They love cable,” Gardner said of Layer3 customers. “They’re looking for something better, and we become their new cable company.”

And that means, in an era when most distributors want to break up the programming bundle, Gardner wants everything — and he means everything — a content provider has to offer.

For example, Layer3 is working with The Weather Channel on new leading-edge apps and 4K content for the channel, which it plans to add shortly. With The Tennis Channel, Layer3 is working on providing a value-added package that will show all seven courts at Roland Garros for next year’s French Open. And in a deal with Fox, Layer3 is airing all of 30 sports events the network is producing in 4K this year.

Other programmers are using Layer3 as a test bed for emerging technologies or offerings. Gardner mentioned tests for mini a la carte packages that would take one specific show or genre and offer content tailored only around that specific theme.

“It’s possible to assemble assets in a way that is tailored for individual passions, and there is value in it, and we’re quietly testing those sorts of initiatives,” Gardner said.

Having a big brother can be a very good thing for an independent cable network.

The proof is in the numbers — all of the independents that showed the biggest gains in carriage over the past six months have been in some way connected to a much larger content provider or distributor, like ESPN, Comcast or Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Among indie networks, Sinclair’s Tennis Channel had the biggest gain in subscribers between 2015 and 2016, according to SNL Kagan, adding 14.1 million customers. In second place was BabyFirst TV, with an increase of 10.2 million customers.

Rounding out the Kagan list is Boomerang (7.2 milion), FM (7.2 million) and beIN Sports (6.9 million). BabyFirst is one of the minority-controlled networks launched by Comcast as part of the conditions surrounding the FCC approval of its purchase of NBC Universal. Boomerang is owned by Turner Broadcasting (Time Warner Inc.), FM is part of Fuse Media — which includes cable network Fuse and is owned in part by MSG Networks — and beIN Sports is part of beIN Media Group, which operates 34 channels in 33 countries.

The big brother trend was prevalent between 2014 and 2015 as well, according to Kagan, when SEC Network (launched by ESPN) added 38.8 million homes. That year BabyFirst came in second again, with 10.2 million additions. It was followed by Univision Deportes (part of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications) with 8.5 million, Comcast-launched minority channel Aspire (owned in part by NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson) and Fusion (owned by Univision Communications), each with 8.5 million additional homes.

‘A LITTLE BIT OF MUSCLE’

“Sinclair has a little bit of muscle,” Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan said regarding independent networks hooking up with larger companies. “Tennis Channel had very little leverage.”

Tennis Channel was available in about 37 million homes in February, one month before it closed its deal to be purchased by Sinclair for $350 million. Five months later Tennis Channel said, on the eve of its coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, it is available in 47 million homes and is on a path to grow that to 60 million by mid-2017.

Fueling that growth is its relationship with Sinclair, which has been one of the more aggressive broadcasters regarding retransmission-consent negotiations with distributors. With Sinclair’s added heft — it owns, operates or provides services to 173 stations in 81 markets — Tennis Channel has reached carriage deals with several additional distributors, including Charter Communications, Dish Network, Suddenlink Communications, Cable One and Frontier Communications.

Last month, on a conference call to discuss quarterly results, Sinclair executive vice president and chief operating officer David Amy said the Charter deal alone — which wasn’t expected to kick in until mid-August — would add about 1 million homes to Tennis Channel’s rolls.

Tennis Channel is carried on the expanded basic or digital basic packages on Bright House, Charter, Dish Network, Frontier, Suddenlink and Cable One, with similar rollouts planned in the months ahead for AT&T U-verse, Buckeye, Comcast, DirecTV, Mediacom Communications, Cincinnati Bell and WideOpenWest.

Other broadcasters have turned to creating their own pay TV channels to boost revenue and make their overthe- air content more compelling. Tribune Media converted former superstation WGN into WGN America in 2008 and began collecting cable-carriage fees for it in 2014, and Sinclair launched American Sports Network in 2014 and sci-fi network Comet TV in 2015.

Having that extra content doesn’t always translate into more carriage and heftier fees. Tribune found that out on June 13, when Dish Network declined to renew its Tribune retransmission-consent agreement covering 42 Tribune stations in 33 markets and including WGN America. That dispute was ongoing at press time. (Note: Dish and Tribune Media resolved their dispute and Tribune stations and WGN America were restored to Dish on Sept. 3.)

This article was updated on Sept. 8 to correct factual errors concerning the ownership of the Boomerang channel, the conversion of WGN into WGN America and a reference to the Ring of Honor wrestling program.

About five months after sealing the deal to purchase the Tennis Channel for $350 million, Sinclair Broadcast Group has expanded the sports network’s reach to 47 million households according to measurement company comScore, with an eye toward more than 60 million homes by 2017.

The increases are the result of several distribution deals Sinclair has made since closing the deal in March.  In announcing the deal, Sinclair said it had secured deals to expand Tennis Channel’s reach by about 20 million homes,  from its base at the time of about 30 million homes. Since then, Sinclair said Tennis Channel was available in about 37 million homes in February, its last full month as an independent network.

Earlier this month Sinclair EVP and chief operating officer David Amy said the sports channel added about 1 million new customers through its carriage deal with Charter Communications.  Sinclair said in a statement that the Tennis Channel is carried on expanded basic or digital basic packages on Bright House, Dish Network, Frontier, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable and Cable One, with similar rollouts planned for AT&T U-verse, Buckeye, Comcast, DirecTV, Mediacom, Cincinnati Bell and WOW!

That number could get even larger as the network heads toward its eighth consecutive year of coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which began today (Aug. 29).

The one-month anniversary of the retransmission-consent dispute between Tribune Media and Dish Network passed with little fanfare last week. And though both sides claim they are still negotiating toward a settlement, some analysts believe that the end to the spat will be more a question of endurance than of compromise.

About 42 Tribune stations in 33 markets went dark to about 5 million of the satellite-TV provider’s customers on June 12, after the parties couldn’t reach a retransmission-consent agreement.

Dish has claimed that Tribune is asking for more than double the old rate for its stations and cable network WGN America, while Tribune has countered that its requested rates are in line with what comparable distributors have already paid and reflect the value of its content.

AT LOGGERHEADS

In an interview last week, Dish senior vice president and deputy general counsel Jeff Blum said the satellite company has been distributing free over-the-air antennas to Dish customers in the affected areas. Dish has also proposed several extension scenarios that would put the stations back on the air during talks and, once a deal was reached, the terms would be retroactive, Blum said.

Tribune has rejected those offers as self-serving for Dish, counterin with a longer extension proposal, which the satellite company rebuffed.

Adding to the acrimony is that broadcasters are beginning to buy pay TV networks — Sinclair Broadcast Group held up its retrans negotiations with Dish last year by trying to secure carriage for a cable channel it didn’t yet own, which turned out to be Tennis Channel — but managed to eventually work out a deal.

Tribune only owns one pay TV channel, WGN America, which was originally a superstation feed of WGN-TV in Chicago before it converted to a cable network in 2014. The network’s fees are low, though. Last year, SNL Kagan estimated WGN America attracted 8 cents per subscriber per month. Retrans fees are much higher, usually in the range of $1 to $2 per subscriber, per month.

PAST BATTLES

Tribune has had some retrans scuffles in the past. It went dark to DirecTV customers in 2012 for about four days and was blacked out to Cablevision Systems customers in the New York area in 2012 for nearly two months.

That willingness to wait it out until the other guy blinks may be a key component of the negotiations, Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan said.

Tribune said it is still in contact with Dish and hopes a deal can be reached, but it isn’t ready to blink just yet. The broadcaster has balked at Dish’s offer of baseball- style arbitration — it says that carriage deals are too complicated and nuanced for that type of settlement.

Eagan sees Dish with a slight edge in talks for two reasons: It isn’t as concerned with subscriber losses as other pay TV operators, and its lack of a broadband service could prevent Tribune from blocking out online access to programming for Dish subscribers.

“Management, and to a degree the Street, doesn’t care so much about subscriber growth,” Eagan said in an interview. “It isn’t that big a driver of the stock.”

Eagan said he sees Dish’s willingness to sacrifice subscriber growth for a more favorable rate as endemic to its overall strategy. It isn’t just negotiating for this deal, it is negotiating for future deals, too.

“I don’t know what broadcast-station group renewals come up after this, but they [Dish] are trying to draw a line in the sand,” Eagan said.

RISKY STRATEGY

But pay TV subscribers are fickle. In 2013, Time Warner Cable dug in its heels during a summer dispute with CBS, a period thought to be ripe for a blackout — there are no major sporting events, reruns rule the broadcast airwaves and most people spend more time off the couch. A month later — after Time Warner Cable had lost 300,000 basic-video customers, the worst quarterly subscriber loss in its history — CBS had its deal at terms close to what it had originally asked for.

No one is expecting a similar fate for Dish in this go-round. Eagan said times are different, the markets are smaller and there were fewer over-the-top alternatives in 2013. Tribune stations offer news, sports and weather information via individual station apps and websites, and viewers can access broadcast-network programming streamed online through their respective websites and apps.

“While that poses a risk for the operator in general because they have substitutes, but it also makes it easier for them [subscribers] to not leave the operator if they suddenly lose a programmer or a channel,” Eagan said.

Broadcasters continued to eke out double-digit percentage increases in retransmission-consent revenue in the first quarter, despite mounting evidence that the pay TV universe is shrinking.

A look at some of the top broadcast station groups show that retrans revenue, while still rising at a healthy double-digit percentage clip, leveled off a bit from the triple-digit increases of a year ago. But overall growth at the top five publicly traded broadcasters rose a collective 25% in the period, slightly behind the 35% increases in the first quarter of 2015.

SCRIPPS LEADS THE CHARGE

Leading the charge was E.W. Scripps, which boosted its quarterly retrans haul 92% to $53.6 million, behind the 123.8% increase in the same period last year. Sinclair Broadcast Group — the largest station owner with 172 broadcast properties in 81 markets — maintained a high-single digit percentage increase in the period, although it told analysts those raises will taper off in the next three years as its deals mature.

Sinclair said its next big retrans negotiation will be at the end of the year, with Comcast, and it expects 2017 retrans increases to be in the mid-single digits, dipping to the low-single digits by 2018.

The company, which has been aggressively accumulating stations over the past five years — it had only 58 stations in January 2011 — will have some added leverage in retrans negotiations going forward. It agreed to purchase sports network Tennis Channel in January (the deal closed on March 1), adding to its growing stable of cable networks that include American Sports Network, Ring of Honor and Comet TV. While Tennis Channel had little impact on the first quarter — it had only been officially under the Sinclair umbrella for a month in the period — the network is expected to have influence in future negotiations.

The second-largest station owner — Nexstar Broadcast Group, with 104 properties in 54 markets — saw retrans revenue rise 46.2% to $97.3 million in the quarter, less than the 89.5% increase in the same period in 2015.

Of the top six station owners, all except Tegna, the former Gannett broadcasting group, reported a smaller percentage increase in Q1 2016 than in the prior year. That could be in part because of a declining pay TV subscriber base, as total pay TV customers fell by 1.2% in the quarter. But it is more likely tied to the timing of retrans renewals and overall market maturity. Tegna said it expected retrans to grow more than 30% for the rest of the year.

MVPDs reached several retrans deals with station owners in the first quarter, including Cox (with Nexstar), Time Warner Cable (with Scripps) and Dish (with Cordillera Communications), which likely had an impact on revenue growth. Most of those deals — except for TWC and Scripps — also included brief blackout periods, which one pay TV industry group believes has a huge impact on rates.

The American Television Alliance, a group that includes the traditional pay TV distributors such as Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, DirecTV and Dish Network, said there were 193 blackouts in 2015 — a new record and more than twice the 94 blackouts in 2014. So far in 2016, 26 blackouts have occurred, and more are expected as deals come up for renewal, usually around major sporting and entertainment events.

The ATVA sees a direct correlation between blackouts and higher retrans fees, adding that oftentimes consumers are forced to pay higher rates after a dark period has ended.

“Each broadcaster’s quarterly earnings report is further confirmation that the retrans cash grab is driving the TV blackout crisis,” said ATVA spokesman Michael Hacker in a statement.

Back in July 2015, SNL Kagan raised its estimates for overall retrans revenue growth to $10.3 billion by 2021, a 63% increase from the $6.3 billion in 2015. CBS alone has said it will generate about $1 billion in retrans revenue in 2016, growing to $2.5 billion by 2020.

RETRANS TAKES UP THE SLACK

Retrans fees have been a savior for some broadcasters, taking up the slack in recent years as the advertising market has tanked. But even as ad sales have begun to rebound — Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne said in a recent note that the first quarter was the strongest for national TV ads since Q3 2013, with broadcast advertising revenue up between 8% and 10% — retrans fees continue to rise.

While overall percentage growth appears to have slowed in the first quarter, Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media and communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said it probably won’t last long, adding that it could simply be a result of the “law of large numbers.”

“As they keep getting bigger, the growth is going to slow,” Wlodarczak said. “I see broadcasters trying to push through higher fees on distributors to offset lost revenue from cord cutters/shavers, which will of course only exacerbate the problem.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it closed on its $350-million acquisition of Tennis Channel, a transaction that had quickly passed muster with the Federal Trade Commission. The broadcaster acquired the independently owned sports programmer with a plan to rapidly expand the channel's distribution via retransmission-consent negotiations that pay-TV distributors sign to carry Sinclair's 171 TV stations in 81 markets. When the deal was announced in January, Sinclair said it had already reached deals to add 20 million homes to the channel's prior base of about 30 million homes.

Ken Solomon, the Tennis Channel chairman and CEO, becomes president of the channel, which has about 100 employees, under the new ownership. He and the channel's Santa Monica, Calif.-based management team are staying on under Sinclair.

Tennis Channel launched May 15, 2003. The channel's next big tournament coverage kicks off with the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, March 9, at Indian Wells, Calif.; followed by the Miami Open on March 23. 

The government has no problem with Sinclair's purchase of the Tennis Channel, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an OK that paves the way for the acquisition's closing.

Sinclair last month struck a deal to buy the channel for $350 million, expanding the station group's cable footprint beyond the NewsChannel 8 news net it picked up in the Allbritton purchase.

The FTC Thursday (Feb. 25) included the deal on its list of transactions granted early termination of their Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review.

Any deal valued north of approximately $75 million must get such a review. Early termination means neither the Justice Department nor the FTC, which releases the list, has found any reason to block or condition the deal.

The merger does not involve the transfer of FCC licenses, so the commission does not have to weigh in on the public interest benefits.

Sinclair Broadcast Group wanted to add cable network ownership to its business mix and decided, after exploring concepts with distributors, that buying Tennis Channel and bundling it into retransmission-consent deals would be "a palatable ask on our part," Sinclair executive vice president and general counsel Barry Faber said after Sinclair said it reached a definitive agreement to buy the channel for $350 million.

Sinclair declared that it had already reached agreements with pay-TV providers -- cable, satellite and telco-TV distributors -- to add 20 million homes to the channel's current base of around 30 million homes. Faber said on a conference call with reporters those gains would come over the course of about a year after the deal closes, which is expected to happen soon.

Sinclair, which Faber said owns or serves some 170 TV stations reaching 40% of the country, has "a couple of major [distributor deals] left, very major ones" yet to be completed, he added. One of those is with Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable company and one of Tennis Channel's largest distributors. Comcast also has been in very public disagreements over several years with Tennis Channel over how widely the network should be distributed. Comcast also is a "huge and trusted customer" of Sinclair, Faber said, adding he was "extremely hopeful and somewhat confident that we will be able to find an alternate solution that will eliminate the need for litigation” in the ongoing disagreements over Tennis Channel's distribution.

Sinclair's current retransmission deal with DirecTV, the biggest U.S. pay-TV provider overall, was done in February 2013 and might well be running out soon as most of its retransmission deals have been for three years. Sinclair did a new retransmission deal with Dish Network in August, and during those talks it was reported that Dish complained about being asked to add cable-network distribution as part of the deal, Faber said. He said Sinclair was happy with the way the deal with Dish eventually worked out.

Faber and Tennis Channel chairman and CEO Ken Solomon said distributors weren't likely to give the channel many more homes unless they had good reason to. But distributors see value in the channel, which has a clear identity, shows live events and appeals to fans of the sport. When the channel offers distributors the chance to air it for free during major tournaments, such as the current Australian Open, it expands beyond 50 million homes and its ratings go up, Solomon said. 

"We found this to be a path where their resistance wasn’t nearly as high as if we had taken some other strategies into cable," Faber said, "so I anticipate having some great success going forward. And we have room to grow this well past the 50 million homes that we currently have commitments for.”

Faber said he did not think Sinclair had to give in at all on how much cash it's paid for retransmitting its stations by including Tennis into the deals. “I do not believe that this is simply a shifting of money around,” he said.

Other points from the call: 

-- Tennis Channel's investors -- listed on the channel's website as including Apollo Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, DND Partners, Battery Investors, Columbia Capital and Frank J. Biondi Jr.'s Waterview Advisors -- were willing to continue to back the nearly 13-year-old channel as an independent entity and didn't force a sale, Solomon said. “This was a 'we will serve no wine before its time' scenario,” he said. But the channel had hit a wall in terms of distribution, and could not compete for some major event rights because of it. "We can't play for finals of a major," he said. The channel was long overdue for the right partner, which for Solomon was “somebody who recognizes the inherent value of the asset that we built and who can bring real strategic resources to growing it and scaling it to the next level.”

-- Sinclair continues to like owning broadcast TV stations, especially as retransmission-consent cash has developed as a solid revenue stream in addition to advertising dollars. But as the company stepped up investments in programming it saw an advantage to having control over how that content was used, and decided it wanted to build or buy and grow a cable network, Faber said. The idea first sprang out of the acquisition of Allbritton Communications, which owns a local news channel in the Washington, D.C., market. Sinclair also has been getting into more sports programming -- Ring of Honor wrestling and event syndication through the American Sports Network -- and recently launched a sci-fi channel, Comet, on multicast spectrum in partnership with MGM. Sinclair will “continue to be open to exploring opportunities” to own or partner on cable programming, Faber said.

-- Solomon and the existing Tennis Channel management are very much part of the deal, both executives said. “I am not only staying I am committed to staying, excited to stay and I can’t wait for what’s next,” Solomon, a longtime TV manager and entrepreneur, said.

-- Possibly the only big multichannel distributor that Sinclair stations don't overlap, Faber said, is Long Island, N.Y.-based Cablevision Systems, which doesn't carry Tennis Channel. 

Mike Farrell contributed to this story.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to purchase independently-owned Tennis Channel for $350 million, the organization announced Wednesday. Sinclair will acquire the assets of the 24-hour channel, which currently has 30 million subscribers. Sinclair stated that it has already negotiated agreements with a number of distributors to add an additional 20 million homes to the network’s subscriber count.

[RELATED: Sinclair wanted to expand into cable and determined that more carriage for Tennis Channel would be "a palatable ask" for distributors.]

“Tennis Channel is an established property with high-quality content and advertisers, and is vastly under-compensated and under-distributed relative to the value it brings to its viewers. It was the only independently-owned major sports network left, and we knew we could unlock value through a tuck-in acquisition,” David Smith, CEO of Sinclair, said in a release.

Launched on May 15, 2003, Tennis Channel holds telecast rights to such marquee pro tennis events as the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, top-tier WTA competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hopman Cup.

Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO of the Tennis Channel, added in the release: “In Sinclair we have found the perfect owner-partner to accelerate scaling the Tennis Channel brand and our sport’s expanding fan-base to the next level. Sinclair’s unique size and position in the media ecosystem will facilitate significant distribution growth towards parity with our competitive set and expand our brand’s assets and unique value as the go-to destination for all things tennis in the U.S. and beyond. The larger platform will immediately help develop incremental advertising and sponsorship business and puts us in a great position to enhance our already comprehensive rights portfolio domestically as well as develop the brand internationally.”

At the start of a conference call with reporters, Solomon noted the patience of Tennis Channel's private equity investors in hanging in while management sought a suitable buyer. For Tennis Channel, he said, a suitable buyer or partner was "somebody who recognizes the inherent value of the asset that we built and who can bring real strategic resources to growing it and scaling it to the next level.” A longtime cable executive and entrepreneur, Solomon, when asked if was staying on at the channel, said: “I am not only staying I am committed to staying, excited to stay and I can’t wait for what’s next.”

Solomon said the channel's size constraints also held it back in terms of being able to acquire certain big tournament rights.

Barry Faber, executive vice president and general counsel at Sinclair, on the call, said Sinclair has been looking to either buy or create a cable channel and found a good fit in Tennis Channel, given the value of live sports programming and the fact that, in Sinclair's view, Tennis Channel had a lot of upside potential with distributors. He said he was confident the channel would make gains with virtually all distributors as part of Sinclair's distribution talks.

Faber said he was not sure if he could name, at this time, what distributors had reached agreements to expand the channel's distribution, but he said the expansion of 20 million homes cited in the announcement would take place over about a year. Sinclair has about 170 television stations it owns or operates, he said, overlapping most pay-TV distributors other than Cablevision Systems. Increases would take place both inside and outside of Sinclair markets on pay-TV distributors, he said, including on growing out of sports tiers into broader carriage.

Faber said the desire to expand into cable programming started with the acquisition of Allbritton Communications, which owns a local news channel in the Washington, D.C., market. Sinclair also has been getting into more sports programming and recently launched a sci-fi channel, Comet, on multicast spectrum in partnership with MGM.

As part of the deal, Sinclair officials said the company will benefit from over $200 million of Tennis net operating losses which Sinclair will be able to carry forward to reduce future tax payments, the present value which Sinclair estimates to be worth approximately $65 million.

(This story was updated to correct the name of the executive speaking for Sinclair on the conference call.) 

Timed with the start of the US Open, Tennis Channel said its TV Everywhere app and standalone, digital offering, Tennis Channel Plus, are now available on the Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick and Fire tablets.

That expands on Tennis Channel’s streaming reach on Web browsers, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, Roku players and Roku TVs, and the Apple TV.

Tennis Channel Plus runs $79.99 per year, or $11.99 per month, and delivers OTT access to more than 650 live events. MVPDs with rights for Tennis Channel’s TVE app include AT&T U-verse/DirecTV, Cox Communications, Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, Armstrong, Frontier Communications, RCN, and Vyve Broadband, among others.

Among its offerings during the US Open tourney, Tennis Channel is producing a three-hour morning show, Tennis Channel Live, and an eight-hour evening encore program called US Open Tonight. Tennis Channel said it will provide more than 250 hours of coverage during the event. Tennis Channel Plus is also providing several archived matches from the tournament. For Serena Williams, who is poised to achieve a "Calendar Slam,” Tennis Channel Plus is giving viewers on-demand access to semifinal and championship wins at this year's Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon competitions.

“Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets is helping us bring Tennis Channel's unsurpassed tennis programming to customers through a variety of platforms, and continues our mission to give as much tennis to people as possible, on as many devices as possible," Patrick Wilson, senior vice president of distribution, Tennis Channel, said in a statement. “When you combine Tennis Channel's linear feed with the live coverage and archived matches carried on Tennis Channel Plus, Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablet users have the ultimate tennis viewing experience, whether at home or on the go."

"We're thrilled to offer Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus to Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick and Fire tablet customers," added Steve Rabuchin, vice president, Amazon Appstore. "Now our customers can have a front row seat for all the action at many of the biggest tournaments of the year - even those without a cable subscription."

In recognition of Serena Williams' Wimbledon Tennis championship win today, Tennis Channel will air Williams' sequential Grand Slam finals victories beginning Monday.

Tennis Channel on July 13 will air in chronological order Williams' 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open and French Open, as well as today's Wimbledon win, according to network officials.

In addition starting July 12, the network's Tennis Channel Plus digital subscription service will feature a fully dedicated section to the "Serena Slam" and will run her US Open, Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon wins on a 24/7 loop, said network officials. 

Tennis Channel will provide coverage of the upcoming 2015 US Open beginning Aug. 31. If Williams wins the U.S. Open, she will be the first female player to win all four Grand Slams in the same year since Steffi Graff in 1988, said network officials.

It’s often referred to as the fifth major, and Tennis Channel and ESPN2 are providing major coverage of the BNP Paribas Open.

Top fields at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden are headed by the world No. 1s, Novak Djovokic and Serena Williams. The Djoker is the defending champion, having topped. No. 2 Roger Federer 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 last March.

For her part, Williams’ is returning to the venue for the first time since 2001. Serena vowed never to play at Indiana Wells again after she defeated Kim Clijsters to win the title more than a decade ago. The day before, sister Venus, citing injury, withdrew from their semifinal match minutes before it was scheduled to begin, amidst speculation that their father Richard pushed the older sibling to withdraw. Fans at Indian Wells, unaware of the cancellation, booed Serena in the final and her father Richard said he heard racial epithets from the crowd.

That sparked Serena’s lengthy boycott – Venus has yet to return – which concluded with her 7-5, 7-5 win Friday night over Romania’s Monica Niculescu.

Flavia Pennetta is the defending women’s champion.

Tennis began its coverage of the 96-person fields on March 11, and has expanded its schedule to eight consecutive days of 12-hour, live-match blocks – and 10 days of live matches overall at the 12-day event. More than 100 live hours are planned this year, with 162 overall via encore telecasts.

The dedicated racquet sport service has added a second broadcast booth in the tournament’s new state-of-the art Stadium 2, which bowed last year. This gives Tennis Channel an event presence in three distinct locations: a booth in Stadium 2, a booth on the main court at Stadium 1 and a studio desk on the tournament grounds, the hub of the network’s on-air activity. Most days coverage starts with half-hour lead-in show, Live at the BNP Paribas Open at 1:30 p.m. (ET). Based at the tournament desk, Emmy Award-winning host will appear with Hall of Famers Tracy Austin and Jim Courier, along with Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim. In addition to news and analysis, the quartet will offer special segments, interviews and an overall diary of the tournament’s progression.

The worldwide leader has led in digitally, with ESPN3 providing match coverage from Stadiums 1, 2 and 3.

 ESPN2 and authenticated, streaming service WatchESPN get onto court for some 21 hours, starting March 19 and concluding on ESPN on March 22 with the women’s and men’s championships.

Tennis Channel will provide live coverage of the U.S. Fed Cup team competition beginning this Saturday, the network said.

The network will air the team’s Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 first-round competition against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Serena and Venus Williams will serve as part of the American team that needs to defeat Argentina to keep its chances alive to qualify for the 2016 Fed Cup tournament.

Tennis Channel will also cover the 2015 Fed Cup first-round competition between Poland and Russia live, in Krakow, Poland, beginning at 6 a.m. ET Saturday and Sunday, said network officials. 

Tennis Channel has selected Apple TV as its first digital streaming TV partner, launching on the platform in time for the Australian Open, the start of the sport’s Grand Slam season.

The move gives Tennis Channel subscribers online access to the linear channel feed as well as daily highlights, interviews and other segments from daily show Australian Open Today.

Also included on the Apple TV platform is the network’s digital subscription service, Tennis Channel Plus; digital subscribers with Apple TV will be able to watch live Australian Open coverage during the first eight days of the two-week competition. Starting at 7 p.m. (ET) each evening, digital viewers will have access to an additional live court stream that will not be available on Tennis Channel.

Tennis Channel Plus gives viewers access to more than 450 other live matches from more than 40 tournaments worldwide, including the French Open. Archived matches and other programming are also available on-demand to digital subscribers. Tennis Channel Plus subscriptions are $69.99 per year via Apple TV, the network said.

"Our partnership with Apple TV marks a continued progression in our drive to remain on the cutting-edge of media technology for viewers and the tennis community," said Patrick Wilson, senior vice president of distribution, Tennis Channel.

Tennis Channel first launched a TV everywhere app in 2013 and last year rolled it out to 75% of its subscriber base, the network said. It subsequently launched Tennis Channel Plus as its digital subscription service in May 2014; it has been integrated into the network’s TV everywhere app.

The Australian Open started yesterday (Jan. 19) in Melbourne.

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2015 Australian Open: ESPN2, Tennis Channel on Court Down Under

Buckeye Serves Tennis TVE in Time for Aussie Open

It was the 2014 Australian Open that ushered in some changes at the top of the men’s and women’s tennis world.

When Ana Ivanovic upset Serena Williams in the round of 16, 2014 began an uneven year for the world No. 1, who also suffered early exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, before she regained her form and captured the U.S. Open. In between, former Slam champions Maria Sharapova  (French) and Petra Kvitova (Wimbledon) added majors, while Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard burst onto the scene.

Ivanovic’s victory in Melbourne Park opened the door for Li Na to take home the title. With the Chinese player retiring from the sport, a new woman will be crowned Aussie queen.

Stan Wawrinka beat three-time defending champion Novak Djovokic in the quarterfinals, returning the favor for a marathon loss against the Serb Down Under in 2013. The long-time No. 2 Swiss player then surprised Rafael Nadal to win the championship.

Bookending the year of upsets, Martin Cilic, who will miss the Happy Slam with ani njury, beat the rising Japanese player Kei Nishikora  in the final of the U.S. Open. Wawrinka and Cilic thus joined 2009 U.S. Open king, Juan Martin Del Potro, who also had to withdraw on the eve of the tourney with his lingering left wrist problem, as the only men to interrupt the decade-long Grand Slam domination of the "Big 4": Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray.

This year, world No. 1 Djoker and No. 4 Wawrinka could meet in a semfinal rubber match, while a recovering-from-multiple injuries Nadal might see old foe Roger Federer in the bottom half.

How happy would executives at the worldwide leader be if that form held at the Happy Slam. Starting on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m., ESPN 2 and ESPN will combine to present more than 100 live hours on television, while ESPN3 will serve up to 800 more digitally, as fans will be able to choose from action on up to 13 courts.  ESPN’s 31st consecutive Australian Open will culminate with the women’s and men’s championships live on ESPN at 3 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, and Sunday, Feb. 1, with an encore presentation Super Bowl morning at 9 a.m.

As part of its Grand Slam alliance with ESPN, Tennis Channel is in the game Down Under for an eighth consecutive year. Tennis Channel will have 11 consecutive days and 40 hours of live coverage. Adding encore replays, highlights, a special preview and the new daily preview show Live at the Australian Open, the network will devote close to 200 hours over the fortnight.

Under their alliance, ESPN produces the Australian Open for both networks, with each utilizing its own commentators and cross-promoting their combined television offerings. Conversely, Tennis handles production when the networks play as a doubles team at Roland Garros.

Unlike many Grand Slams, the 2015 Australian features several intriguing opening-round battles. Nishikora will battle former top 10 player Nicolas Almagro, while Nadal meets the veteran Mikhail Youzny.

Distaff interest will center on the former two-time champion Victoria Azarenka’s encounter with Sloane Stephens, a rematch of their controversial and contentious 2013 semifinal that followed the American's elimination of her idol Williams. By the by, Azarenka, Stephens former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, Williams' 2014 French and Wimbledon conquerors Garbine Muguruz and Alize Cornet, plus Jelena Jankovic and Dominica Hantuchova are all in Serena’s part of the draw.

Williams, should she survive her perilous path, could meet friend Caroline Wozniacki -- seeded eighth but suffering from a wrist injury -- in the quarters. A Williams' title would be her 19th singles Slam, surpassing the 18 trophies also held by Chris Evert and Martina Navritilova. Fourth-seeded Kvitova is slated to meet No. 6 Aga Radwanska in the other quarter in the top half of the draw.

The bottom half features the possible confrontation between Halep and Ivanovic, this year’s third and fifth seeds. The last quarter could showcase the telegenic twosome of No. 2 Sharapova and  Bouchard, the comely Canadian, who succumbed to Na in last year’s semis.

On the men’s side, if the seeds hold up, Djokovic would meet No.8  Milos Raonic, the hard-serving Canadian, and Wawrinka would engage his U.S. Open vanquisher, No. 5 Nishikori.

In the bottom half, No. 3 Nadal’s path would take him into No. 7 Tomas Berdych, while the second-seeded Federer might match with No. 6 Murray, who lost to the Swiss in last year’s quarters and the 2010 final and to Djokovic in the 2011 and 2013 championship matches.

Shoule Nole or Fed win they would set the Open era record with five men's Down Under diadems.

ESPN2 tosses the first ball into TV play on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. (ET) and will present daily, marathon, overnight telecasts from Melbourne, primarily starting at 9 p.m. through the women’s semifinals. At the money end of the tourney, coverage switches to ESPN (see schedule below). WatchESPN, now available to some 75 million homes, will stream all of the action on the two networks to authenticated viewers.

The worldwide leader is bringing its veteran tennis team Down Under: Australians Cliff Drysdale and Darren Cahill; the McEnroe brothers, Patrick and John, and three named Chris: Fowler, Evert and McKendry. Additionally, former players and coaches Pam Shriver, Mary Jo Fernandez, Brad Gilbert and Jason Goodall are scheduled to appear, as will essayist Tom Rinaldi.

As it does with the other majors, Tennis Channel will introduce a review/preview show with this year’s Aussie tourney.

Hosted by Emmy Award winner Brett Haber, Hall of Famers Jim Courier and Navratilova, and Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim  Live at the Australian Open will air most nights from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. immediately preceding the start of the day’s play Down Under. 

The network’s on-air team also includes Bill Macatte, Justin Gimelstob and Lindsey Davenport.

Tennis' schedule calls for 11 consecutive days spanning 40 hours of live coverage at this year’s Australian Open (see schedule). With encore replays, highlights, a special preview and the new Live at the Australian Open, the network plans to present some 200 hours linear hours.

Hybrid digital service, Tennis Channel Plus, combining TVE accessibility and bonus match coverage, will home in on one court during the tournament's second week, streaming the action to its subscriber base.

ESPN AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2015 (all time ET)

Tennis Channel’s Live Australian Open Coverage (all times ET)

Date                                                    Time                           Event                                                 

Sunday, Jan. 18                                   6 p.m.-7 p.m.              Pre-Tournament Welcome

Monday, Jan. 19                                 6 p.m.-9 p.m.              FirstRound

Tuesday, Jan. 20                                 6 p.m.-9 p.m.              SecondRound

Wednesday, Jan. 21                            6p.m.-9 p.m.              Second Round

Thursday, Jan. 22                               6 p.m.-11 p.m.              ThirdRound

Friday, Jan. 23                                    6 p.m.-9 p.m.              ThirdRound

Saturday, Jan. 24                                6 p.m.-9 p.m.              Round of 16

Sunday, Jan. 25                                   6 p.m.-9 p.m.              Round of 16

Monday, Jan. 26                                 6 p.m.-9 p.m.              Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Jan. 27                                 6 p.m.-9 p.m.              Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals

Wednesday, Jan. 28                            6p.m.-9:30 p.m.         TBA

Thursday, Jan. 29                               10 p.m.-3:30 a.m.       Mixed Doubles Semifinal, Women’s Doubles Final

Saturday, Jan. 31                                5:30 a.m.-8 a.m.         Men’sDoubles Final

Sunday, Feb. 1                                    12 a.m.-2 a.m.            Mixed Doubles Final

Buckeye CableSystem has launched Tennis Channel as part of a multiyear carriage agreement with the dedicated racquet sports service.

The pact, financial terms of which were not disclosed, came in time for Buckeye HDTV Basic Pak subscribers to watch Tennis Channel's coverage of the 2015 Australian Open both on the linear network, as well as myriad devices via the TV Everywhere component of the agreement. The MSO is offering its customers TV Everywhere access to the network at no additional cost. Subscribers who have the HDTV Basic Pak are able to watch Tennis Channel’s linear coverage stream on the go through a multitude of platforms, including smartphones, tablets and computers from anywhere in the U.S.

“We’re excited to welcome Buckeye viewers back to Tennis Channel in time for the Australian Open,” said senior vice president of distribution Patrck Wilson. “Tennis Channel has 90 percent of the live tennis on U.S. television today, and with TV Everywhere capabilities tennis fans can tune in when, where and how they want to.”

Noted Buckeye chief administration officer Brad Mefferd: “We are happy that Tennis Channel is back on our programming lineup. The network does a great job of covering a sport so many of our customers follow.”

Tennis Channel's Australian Open coverage will be led by Bill Macatee, and feature Lindsay Davenport, Martina Navratilova, Jim Courier, Jon Wertheim, Justin Gimelstob and Brett Haber.

All told, Tennis will present nearly 200 hours of tournament coverage from Down Under, including more than 30 live match hours, 60 hours of encore replays and 12 hours of lead-in show Australian Open Live.

Buckeye served Tennis in the past under the network’s initial National Cable Television Cooperative agreement.

Roger Federer will attempt to fill in one of the few gaps in his stellar tennis resume, as he leads Switzerland's attempt to win the Davis Cup against France.  Tennis Channel will cover the tie from Lille, France from Friday, Nov. 21 through Sunday, Nov. 23.

The sports's all-time Grand Slam leader will team with world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka (pictured, left), with Switzerland eyeing its first Davis Cup championship against a French team led by Jo Wilifred Tsonga and Gael Monfils on the indoor red clay court at Stade Pierre Mauroy.

Federer, currently the world No. 2, must overcome a bad back that forced him to withdraw from the ATP World Finals championship match against Novak Djokovic last Sunday in London, as well as some bad blood that surfaced during and after the tourney's semifinal win over his friend Wawrinka on Nov. 15.

Wawrinka will open matters versus Tsonga, while Federer draws Monfils in the second singles encounter on Friday.

The doubles on Saturday is scheduled to face the French duo of Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau versus the Swiss pair of Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer. However, the team captain can change his charges up to an hour before the match, and if Federer is fit, Switzerland may insert its top two players.

If the outcome remains in question in the three-of-five competition, the reverse singles on Sunday will showcase Federer-Tsonga, and Wawrinka-Monfils in what could be the decisive encounter.

Emmy Award-winning announcer Brett Haber will handle play-by-play responsibilities during Tennis Channel's Davis Cup coverage this weekend, with former U.S. Davis Cup player Justin Gimelstob manning the analyst's role.

Coverage from Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille, France (ET, subject to change):

Friday, Nov. 21:

8 a.m. - Live Singles #1

11 a.m. - Live Singles #2

{2:30 p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #1}

{8 p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #1}

{11p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #2}

Saturday, Nov. 22:

9:30 a.m. - Live Doubles

{2 p.m. - Instant Encore Doubles}

{8 p.m. - Instant Encore Doubles}

{11:30 p.m. - Instant Encore Doubles}

Sunday, Nov. 23:

7 a.m. - Live Singles #1

10 a.m. - Live Singles #2

{2 p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #1}

{8 p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #1}

{11 p.m. - Instant Encore Singles #2}

The ATP World Tour Finals title and year-end, No. 1 ranking are on the line in London this week, with Tennis Channel and ESPN 2 covering all the action from the 02 Arena from Nov. 9-16.

Current leader Novak Djokovic is looking for his third straight ATP World Tour Finals crown, while No. 2 Roger Federer is eyeing a record seventh title in this event that could propel him to reclaim the No. 1 ranking.

It’s a long shot for the 33-year-old Federer, who not only has to win the event, but see Djokovic not make it out of the group stage in the eight-man round-robin tournament. Thereafter, Federer and fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka have to go to France and secure the Davis Cup later this month.

Whether things play out that way on the courts is why tennis fans watch, but the action at 02 culminates a transitional year in the men’s game that saw Wawrinka and Marin Cilic break The Big Four’s stranglehold on the Grand Slams by winning the Australian and U.S. Open, respectively. Djokovic won at Wimbledon, while Rafa Nadal, who is missing the ATP World Tour Finals as he recovers from an appendectomy, affirmed his stature as King of Clay with his ninth title at Roland Garros.

With Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro injured and David Ferrer slowing, the 2014 ATP World Tour Finals features newcomers in Cilic, the man he topped at the U.S. Open, Kei Nishikori, and hard-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.

In London, the competitors are divided into a pair of fours. Group A features Djokovic (1), Wawrinka (4), Czech Tomas Berdych (7) and Cilic (9).

Federer (2) is joined in Group B by Nishikori (5), Raonic (8) and Andy Murray (6), the Scot and 2013 Wimbledon champion who calls London home.

There is also doubles doings, with the top-seeded Bryan brothers looking to punctuate their 2014 with their 103 title overall and fourth ATP World Tour Finals title, which would be their first since 2009. Mike and Bob will compete against Alexander Peya-Bruno Soares (3), Jean-Julien Rojer-Horia Tecau (5) and Lukasz Kubot-Roberto Lindstedt (9) in Group A.

The No. 2 team of Daniel Nestor, Nenad Zimonjic leads Group B, where they will battle Julien Benneteau-Edouard Roger-Vasselin (4), Marcel Granollers-Marc Lopez (6) and Ivan Dodig-Marcelo Melo (7).

Tennis begins its 120 hours of coverage, including 50 live hours with the Nov. 9 doubles match between Benneteau-Roger-Vasselin and Granollers-Lopez , followed by Nishikori and Murray. The night session from London showcases Nestor-Zimonjic versus Dodig-Melo and Raonic-Federer.  Brett Haber, Tracey Austin, Jimmy Arias and Justin Gimelstob will call the action for Tennis (see schedule below).

ESPN2 gets in the game on Nov. 13, picking up the ball from ESPN3 (see schedule below). The McEnroe Brothers, Patrick and John, will be aided by Darren Cahil from courtside.

Tennis Channel's 2014 ATP World Tour Finals Schedule: (All matches are live unless otherwise indicated.)

ESPN and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London

* - Tape delayed from Saturday, live on ESPN3.

Serena Williams begins her quest for a fifth WTA Finals championship against Ana Ivanovic from Singapore on Monday

The Oct. 20 Red Group confrontation -- a rematch of Ivanovic's upset over the World No. 1 at the Australian Open -- is the opening singles match in the round-robin stage.  Romania's Simona Halep and comely Canadian Eugenie Bouchard round out the Red Group.

On the opposite side of the draw, French Open champion Maria tops the White Group, which also includes Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and the resurgent Caroline Wozniacki.

Whether you prefer red or white, Tennis Channel will supply 35 hours of coverage from the women's season-ending event, showcasing the top eight singles players and the same number of doubles duos.  The network will deliver 25 live and first-run hours, and close to 35 overall from the Oct. 20-26 event, showcasing the top eight singles players and doubles teams competing in the round-robin and then single-elimination format.

During the six-day event, Tennis Channel will air all singles round-robin and semifinals matches live, with same-day encore singles championship coverage on Oct. 26. Additionally, the network has live coverage of the doubles quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, which air on Oct. 25. Telecasts will run throughout the day most days of the week.  Tennis Channel analysts Mary Carillo and Hall of Famer Tracy Austin (@thetracyaustin), the 1980 WTA finals singles champion, will call the matches during the tournament. Joining them will be Rennae Stubbs (@rennaestubbs), who won the 2001 doubles title, and Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76), who won three consecutive year-end doubles crowns from 1996-1998 and the singles title in 1999.

Tennis Channel will premiere the first authorized television biography of tennis legend and activist, the late Arthur Ashe.

The latest chapter to Tennis Channel’s Signature Series will bow on Sunday, August 31 at 11 p.m. (ET) following the conclusion of the network’s live coverage from the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and the court that bears the subject’s name.

The Signature Series: Arthur Ashe documentary delves into the professional and personal lives of a man, who like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, broke down color barriers and affected human right issues. Check out a clip here.

An eventual world No. 1, Ashe began as an outsider in tennis, an African-American unable to play junior tournaments -- or even walk onto the same court with a white opponent -- because of racial segregation laws in his home state of Virginia. But he went on to lead UCLA to the collegiate tennis championship and became the first African-American to play for the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1963. Ashe’s accomplishments on the court also made him the first and only black man to win the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and Wimbledon, among his 33 career titles.

"Arthur Ashe's legacy transcends tennis and even sports, and this is a story that simply had to be told," said Tennis Channel chairman and CEO Ken Solomon. "For the first time television audience will experience Arthur in the context of history and learn why he was one of the greatest social leaders our world has seen."

On those fronts, the documentary explores Ashe’s protests of South African apartheid and his championing of human rights, as well as protests on U.S. crackdowns on Haitian refugees that included two arrests. Ashe was also an educational advocate as a founding member of National Junior Tennis and Learning.

Ashe also provided wisdom in his death from AIDs. In 1992, Ashe he announced that he had contracted the disease from a blood transfusion years earlier while receiving treatment after heart surgery. He became an early and public face for raising awareness about the disease, working with his wife Jeannne, helped to bring attention to AIDS by founding the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, which generated funds for study into treating, curing and preventing the disease, with the eventual goal of finding a cure. He brought light to the plight of AIDS victims by speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, inciting a call to action for delegates to increase funding for research and see the virus as a global issue. At the local level, Ashe also founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. He designed the institute to address poor health care delivery issues amongst urban minorities. Ashe died in 1993 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

With the men’s championship on the line, CBS Sports will bid farewell to the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, ending a 47-year run with the American Grand Slam.

CBS began its journey with the dawn of the Open era in 1968, when amateur Arthur Ashe won the title, previously known as the U.S. National Championships, by topping The Netherlands’ Tom Okker in five sets on the grass at the West Side Tennis Center in Forest Hills, Queens. On Monday, Sept. 8, CBS will help crown a new king -- 2011 winner and four-time runner-up Novak Djokovic is seeded to meet five-time Open monarch and all-time Grand Slam lord Roger Federer in the final – on the court bearing Ashe’s name.

Outbid by ESPN on a new 11-year, $825 million rights deal that goes into effect in 2015, CBS will leave the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens and its hard courts for the last time, but not before sharing its memories and celebrating the tourney’s history.

On Sunday, Aug. 24 at 1:30 p.m., the broadcast network will air a half-hour special program, CBS Salutes The U.S. Open, looking back at the moments and champions that have highlighted its first 46 years of tourney coverage with a number of the announcers who have called the action.  Bill Macatee hosts and will be joined byTony Trabert, John McEnroe, Mary Carillo, Virginia Wade and Dick Enberg. 

Returning from his current gig calling San Diego Padres baseball games on FS San Diego, Enberg, who served as 12 years as CBS’s lead play-by-play man at the Open, will make one last match call – and no doubt utter an “Oh, my” or three --  on Sunday, Aug. 31, alongside his former boothmates McEnroe and Carillo. The legendary broadcaster also will be part of the network’s final weekend coverage, contributing an essay reliving some of the event’s most memorable moments.  Moreover, CBS will present a vignette series throughout the tournament commemorating the great Open moments on its dial over the years.  These shorts will also be available on CBSSports.com.

Per usual, CBS will join the Open over Labor Day weekend, with seven hours of daily coverage from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 30, Sunday Aug. 31 and Monday Sept. 1, before closing shop with women’s and men’s semifinal and championship action (see schedule below).

Sister service CBS Sports Network will again feature Open coverage with three days of live Labor Day weekend action showcasing the most compelling third and fourth-round matches not shown during CBS’s live simultaneous broadcast.  The cable network also presents live studio show, Today at the U.S. Open, from the National Tennis Center.

Additionally, CBS Sports’ full coverage of the tourney will be available on CBSSports.com through live streaming at cbssports.com/tennis/usopen. Highlights and video on demand content for the matches CBS Sports is broadcasting will be available both online and on mobile phones via the CBS Sports app for iOS and Android. 

Before stepping onto the court next year and adding the Labor Day weekend action and the business end of the tourney, ESPN’s various platforms in their sixth year of presentations from Flushing Meadows will present 100 TV hours and 400 hours from up to seven courts on broadband portal ESPN3, beginning on Monday, Aug. 25

 “We are proud of what we have brought to the U.S. Open for now a sixth year in the U.S. – serving fans with more television hours than ever, all TV courts on ESPN3, online coverage highlighted by Courtcast on ESPN.com, and the best tennis team in the business on both sides of the camera – and we look forward to an exciting event where so much is on the line for the game’s brightest stars,” said Jason Bernstein, ESPN senior director, programming and acquisitions.  “We take seriously our role in documenting the sport’s year-long narrative, and while saluting the tremendous work CBS has done for 46 years we’re excited about what lies ahead for fans starting next year.”

For its part, Tennis Channel will air some 75 hours of live matches from the first day of play through the second Thursday, highlighted by primetime coverage on Saturday and Sunday on Labor Day weekend.

Also in its sixth year of event coverage, Tennis Channel will devote more than 260 hours over the 15-day competition, including almost 60 hours of encore matches, four hours of daily lead-in show Tennis Channel Live at the U.S. Open, and 130 hours of nightly U.S. Open Tonight and daily Breakfast at the Open.

Marking the Open’s open on Aug. 25, that Monday stands as a typical day for the independent network, which will come on the the air at 10:30 a.m. (ET) with the half-hour Tennis Channel Live at the U.S. Open from its set on the second level of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Live match coverage begins with the first ball of play at 11 a.m. and runs to 7 p.m. News and highlight show U.S. Open Tonight screens from 11 p.m.-2:30 a.m., followed by an immediate encore from 2:30 a.m.-6 a.m. From 6 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Breakfast at the Open will bring morning viewers up to speed on everything up to the start of that day's live coverage.

CBS Sports’ schedule of live US Open Tennis action:

Saturday, Aug. 30     11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s and women’s third round singles)

Sunday, Aug. 31        11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s third round/women’s fourth round)

Monday, Sept. 1        11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s/women’s fourth round singles)

Friday, Sept. 5          12:30-6:00 PM, ET (mixed doubles championship/women’s semi-finals)

Saturday, Sept. 6       12:00 NOON-6:00 PM, ET (men’s semi-finals)

Sunday, Sept. 7          4:30 PM, ET (women’s singles championship)         

Monday, Sept. 8        5:00 PM, ET (men’s singles championship)

CBS Sports Network’s schedule of live US Open Tennis action:

Saturday, Aug. 30     11:00 AM-12:00 NOON, ET; 3:30-6:00 PM, ET  third round singles)

Sunday, Aug. 31        11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s third round/women’s fourth round)

Monday, Sept. 1        11:00 AM-6:00 PM, ET (men’s/women’s fourth round singles)

ESPN / ESPN2 & US Open 2014

Tennis Channel's Live 2014 US Open Coverage Schedule

Date                                        Time (ET)                  Event                                    

Monday, Aug. 25                    10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        First Round

Tuesday, Aug. 26                    10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        First Round

Wednesday, Aug. 27              10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        First Round, Second Round

Thursday, Aug. 28                  10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        Second Round

Friday, Aug. 29                       10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        Second Round, Third Round

Saturday, Aug. 30                   7 p.m.-11 p.m.             Third Round

Sunday, Aug. 31                     7 p.m.-11 p.m.            Third Round, Round of 16

Tuesday, Sept. 2                     10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        Round of 16, Doubles

Wednesday, Sept. 3                10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.        Doubles, Juniors

Thursday, Sept. 4                    10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.        Doubles, Juniors, Legends Exhibition

Tennis Channel's US Open Tonight, Breakfast at the Open Schedule

U.S. Open Tonight airs for 11 consecutive nights, from Monday, Aug. 25 to Thursday, Sept. 4. Its premiere will usually run from 11 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (ET) followed immediately by an encore from 2:30 a.m.-6 a.m. The exception will be Sunday, Aug. 31, when the show does not air until after midnight, from 12:30 a.m.-4 a.m. (early Monday, Sept. 1), followed by an encore edition from 4 a.m.-6 a.m. Breakfast at the Open also runs for 11 straight nights, from Tuesday, Aug. 26 to Friday, Sept. 5. The show airs from 6 a.m.-10:30 a.m. every morning except for August 30-31, September 1 and September 5, when it ends at 11 a.m.

For those who prefer their tennis viewing hard and hot, Tennis Channel and ESPN2 are the networks of choice for the upcoming Emirates Airline U.S Open Series.

The networks will line up over 230 live or first-run match hours from the  five-week, eight-tournament run-up of men’s and women’s pro tennis events in the States and Canada held in the heat of the North American summer. The series serves as a lengthy lead-in to the U.S. Open, the hard court Grand Slam that starts this year on Aug. 25.

This year's Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series comprises: BB&T Atlanta Open (Atlanta - ATP); Citi Open (Washington, D.C. - ATP); Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, Calif. - WTA); Rogers Cup (Toronto - ATP and Montreal - WTA); Western and Southern Open (Cincinnati, Ohio - WTA/ATP); Winston-Salem Open (Winston-Salem, N.C. - ATP); and the Connecticut Open (New Haven, Conn. - WTA).

Beginning on Thursday, July 21, Tennis will begin presenting some 150 live or first-run hours from Emirate Airline U.S. Open Series, which will be flanked by a like number of encore hours.

For its part, ESPN2 is scheduled to present 84 hours, including seven of the eight finals. The championship coverage features ESPN2 stepping onto the court for the men’s title match at the Southern & Western event from Cincinnati that previously aired on CBS.

The broadcaster, which is gearing up for the last of its 47-yearl run at the U.S. Open – ESPN has secured full rights for the major and the U.S. Opens, beginning in 2015 via an 11-year, $825 million deal – will televise the Aug. 23 final of the men’s Winston-Salem Open.

2014 Emirates Airline US Open Series Tennis Channel First-run Telecast Schedule (all times ET)

July 24-26      BB&T Atlanta Open (ATP)
Thursday, July 24 - 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (round of 16)
Friday, July 25 - 9:15 p.m.-11 p.m. (quarterfinal)
Saturday, July 26 - 8 p.m.-10 p.m. (semifinal)

July 28-Aug 2      Citi Open (ATP)
Monday, July 28 - 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (early round)
Tuesday, July 29 - 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (early round)
Wednesday, July 30 - 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (early round)
Thursday, July 31 - 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (round of 16)
Friday, Aug 1 - 1 p.m.-3 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11 p.m. (quarterfinals)
Saturday, Aug 2 - 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (semifinal)

July 29-Aug 2      Bank of the West Classic (WTA)
Tuesday, July 29 - 4 p.m.-8 p.m.; 10 p.m.-midnight (early round)
Wednesday, July 30 - 4 p.m.-8 p.m.; 10 p.m.-midnight (early round)
Thursday, July 31 - 4 p.m.-8 p.m.; 10 p.m.-midnight (round of 16)
Saturday, Aug 2- 1 a.m.-3 a.m. (quarterfinal)*; 10 p.m.-midnight (semifinal)

Aug 4-7           Rogers Cup (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 4 - 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (early round)
Tuesday, Aug. 5 - 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (early round)
Wednesday, Aug. 6 - 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (early round)
Thursday, Aug. 7 - 6 p.m.-10 p.m. (round of 16)

Aug 11-13       Western & Southern Open (ATP/WTA)
Monday, Aug. 11 - 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round)
Tuesday, Aug. 12 - 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round)
Wednesday, Aug. 13 - 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (early round)

Aug 20-22       Winston-Salem Open (ATP)
Wednesday, Aug. 20 - 3 p.m.-7 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11p.m.* (round of 16)
Thursday, Aug. 21 - 9 p.m.-11 p.m.* (quarterfinal)
Friday, Aug. 22 - 9 p.m.-11 p.m.* (semifinal)

Aug 20-21       Connecticut Open (WTA)
Wednesday, Aug. 20 - 1 p.m.-5 p.m.; 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (round of 16)
Thursday, Aug 21 - 7 p.m.-9 p.m. (quarterfinal)

(*indicates same-day delayed broadcast).

ESPN & the US Open Series (all live except as noted)

Date    Time (ET)     Event    Network
Fri Jul 25    4 p.m.    ATP BB&T Atlanta Open, Atlanta – Quarterfinal    ESPN2
                   7 p.m.    ATP BB&T Atlanta Open, Atlanta – Quarterfinal     ESPN2
Sat Jul 26    3 p.m.    ATP BB&T Atlanta Open, Atlanta – Semifinal     ESPN2
Sun Jul 27    5 p.m.    ATP BB&T Atlanta Open, Atlanta – Championship     ESPN2

Fri Aug 1    4 p.m.    ATP Citi Open, Washington, DC – Quarterfinal    ESPN2
                   7 p.m.    ATP Citi Open, Washington, DC – Quarterfinal     ESPN2
                   11 p.m.    WTA Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, Calif. – Quarterfinal    ESPN2
Sat Aug 2    3 p.m.    ATP Citi Open, Washington, DC – Semifinal    ESPN2
                     5 p.m.    WTA Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, Calif. – Semifinal    ESPN2
Sun Aug 3    3 p.m.    ATP Citi Open, Washington, DC – Championship    ESPN2
                     5 p.m.    WTA Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, Calif. – Championship    ESPN2

Thur Aug 7    1 p.m.    ATP / WTA Rogers Cup, Toronto/Montreal – Round of 16    ESPN2
Fri Aug 8        1 p.m.    ATP / WTA Rogers Cup, Toronto/Montreal – Quarterfinals    ESPN2
                      7 p.m.    ATP / WTA Rogers Cup, Toronto/Montreal – Quarterfinals    ESPN2
Sat Aug 9        1 p.m.    WTA Rogers Cup, Montreal – Semifinal #1    ESPN2
                        3 p.m.    ATP Rogers Cup, Toronto – Semifinal #1    ESPN2
                         8 p.m.    ATP Rogers Cup, Toronto – Semifinal #2    ESPN2
Sun Aug 10    1 p.m.    WTA Rogers Cup, Montreal – Championship    ESPN2
                     3 p.m.    ATP Rogers Cup, Toronto – Championship     ESPN2

Thur Aug 14    1 p.m.    ATP / WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Round of 16    ESPN2
                       7 p.m.    ATP Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Round of 16    ESPN3
                       9 p.m.    WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Round of 16    ESPN2
                      11 p.m.    ATP Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Round of 16    ESPN2 - *
Fri Aug 15         11 a.m.    ATP / WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Quarterfinals    ESPN2
                        7 p.m.    ATP / WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Quarterfinals    ESPN2
Sat Aug 16        1 p.m.    ATP / WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Semifinals     ESPN2
                         7 p.m.    ATP / WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Semifinals    ESPN2
Sun Aug 17        2 p.m.    WTA Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Championship    ESPN2
                          4 p.m.    ATP Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati – Championship    ESPN2

Thur Aug 21          1 p.m.    WTA Connecticut Open, New Haven, Conn. – Quarterfinal    ESPN2
                            3 p.m.    ATP Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, N.C. – Quarterfinal    ESPN2
Fri Aug 22              1 p.m.    WTA Connecticut Open, New Haven, Conn. – Semifinal #1    ESPN2
                             3 p.m.    ATP Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, N.C. – Semifinal #1    ESPN2
                             7 p.m.    WTA Connecticut Open, New Haven, Conn. – Semifinal #2    ESPNEWS
                             MID    WTA Connecticut Open, New Haven, Conn. – Semifinal #2    ESPN2 - **
Sat Aug 23              3 p.m.    WTA Connecticut Open, New Haven, Conn. – Championship    ESPN2

* - Aired on tape delay from 7 p.m., seen live on ESPN3
** - Aired on tape delay from 7 p.m., seen live on ESPNEWS

Continuing to bolster its digital offerings, Tennis Channel is introducing a subscription service on opening day of the 2014 French Open.

Tennis Channel Plus will give subscribers access to 300 live matches from 40 tournaments around the globe, including a multi-court mosaic from Paris encompassing some 70 matches over an eight-day span. Opening up a new revenue stream for Tennis Channel, the service also includes an expansive on-demand menu of historic matches and network original programming.

Available for $59.99 annually or $9.99 for a one-day pass, Tennis Channel Plus will be housed within the network’s Tennis Channel Everywhere app. This hybrid model -- MLB and the NBA proffer digital out-of-market pay packages, while WWE has launched a digital subscription network trading on a monthly charge – will give Tennis Channel Everywhere affiliates a share of the proceeds when certain customer thresholds are reached. Tennis Channel didn’t disclose those numbers or attendant revenue splits.

Adam Ware, senior vice president, head of digital media, Tennis Channel, said Tennis Channel Plus is a complementary service to the linear channel, and enables the independent network to more fully exploit its rights, while better accommodating the game’s most fervid fans.

Given the international nature of the tennis calendar, in which various tournaments unfold simultaneously from different time zones, the linear service can’t present all of the matches. “Most sports and tennis fans want the live experience,” said Ware. “Tennis Channel Plus gives them a chance to see many more matches than we can present on the network.”

Ware said the product is unique. “Tennis Channel Plus does two things no one else is doing. It offers a host of additional live matches and has an extensive on-demand menu,” he explained. “Subscribers can select what they want to see, or watch a curated schedule. Either way, it’s an enhanced experience for hard-core fans.

Its additional French Open presentations aside, Tennis Channel Plus will air exclusive Davis and Fed Cup action as tennis international team competitions play out concurrently. There will also be early-round action from ATP 250 and WTA International events, most of it live; other matches will appear on a delayed basis to protect contractual agreements with linear affiliates.

Tennis Channel Plus subscribers can also summon thousands of hours of on-demand matches, both recent and classic: Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, Chris Evert against Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras versus Andre Agassi. Archived episodes of current series – Tour Guide and Tennis Channel Academy – plus vintage installments of earlier shows such as Center Court with Chris Myers will be available. So, too will the network's perennial short-form components: "Bag Check" and "Court Report."

The first serve for Tennis Channel Plus comes just a year after the network entered the app world, as it made live-streaming of its matches from the French Open, of which it is the primary U.S. cable rights-holder, available for free.

“There were 125,000 downloads of the app through which tennis fans could live-stream our matches,” said Adam Ware, senior vice president, head of digital media, Tennis Channel. “So, we knew there was an appetite.”

The independent network, which currently counts 35 million subscribers, 50 million during its expanded freeview period during the French on DirecTV and Dish, moved into the TVE arena by last summer’s U.S. Open, when it launched Tennis Channel Everywhere to Verizon FiOS and National Cable Television Cooperative subscribers.

Dish and DirecTV subscribers were subsequently added to the Tennis Channel Everywhere court, and the service debuted for Cox customers last week, in time for this year’s French. Another TVE launch with a major distributor is expected shortly.

Ware noted that marketing for Tennis Channel Plus, which will be seen on the network’s air and website, is also taking place at the grass roots level. “There will be a huge push at tennis clubs and with the USTA,” he said.

The United States Tennis Association holds a minority stake in Tennis Channel.

If it’s Paris in the spring, then it’s Rafa’s time, right? Perhaps not in 2014.

Rafael Nadal, the eight-time titlist, including the holder of the 2010-13 crowns, enters this year’s French Open maybe not on feet of clay, but looking somewhat vulnerable on his favorite surface. Nadal has only one won clay court tournament this spring, the Madrid Open, and that came as the ascendant Kei Nikishori was forced to retire in the third set with a back injury.

On the ladies’ side, the key question, as always, remains: Can anyone stop Serena Williams if she’s healthy and in form? The younger Williams – big sis Venus is the 29th seed – is looking to defend her 2013 title in which she dominated the 2012 queen Maria Sharapova.

The denouement of these and other storylines – most notably can Novak Djokovic end Rafa’s reign and earn his own career Grand Slam, after narrowly faltering in 2013, when he touched the net and lost a key point in the ninth game of the decisive fifth set --  will be answered over the next fortnight.

For those not fortunate enough to be at Stade Roland Garros, Tennis Channel, ESPN2 and NBC will have just about all the angles covered, as the tournament gets underway on Sunday, May 25, and concludes on the broadcaster’s air on June 8.

All three networks will be in play on opening day with ESPN2 serving first at 5 a.m. (ET), before giving way to Tennis Channel at 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. NBC joins the Parisian party with a three-hour run from noon to 3 p.m.

Together, the networks are scheduled to serve up a collective 127 hours of live and same-day first run action. And when Tennis Channel adds in its encores and French Open Tonight highlights/analysis show from the Musketeer Plaza, fans of the Grand Slam event, who are so inclined, can check in on some action virtually around the clock over the next two weeks.

In addition to the aforementioned clay tales, there are intriguing gender stories on both sides of the net, heading into Roland Garros.

World No. 2 Li Na, this year’s winner in Melbourne and the 2011 French Open titlist, may have the best chance to unseat Williams. She's followed by such other notables as No. 3 Aga Radwanska; fourth-ranked Simona Halep, who has climbed the rankings over the past year; and the diminutive 10th seed Dominka Cibulkova, who lost to Na in the finals of this year’s Australian Open.

The field, which excludes the injured Victoria Azarenka, does include three other French Open winners aside from Williams and Sharapova: Francesca Schiavone (2010), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009), and Ana Ivanovic (2008). The latter has rounded back into form over the past year.   

Three others to watch: American Sloane Stephens, the No. 16 seed has had a disappointing campaign, but generally puts on a good show at the Slams; the telegenic 20-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, who reached the semis at the Australian; and Jelena Jankovic, a three-time French semifinalist. The former world No. 1 is on the upswing again.

As for the guys, Switzerland is well-represented with No. 3 Stan Wawrinka looking to add Roland Garros to his major collection: He beat an injured Rafa to claim the 2014 Slam Down Under. Countryman and current world No. 4 Roger Federer, despite going out in his opening match in Rome, has enjoyed a much better 2014, than 2013, campaign. The all-time men’s Slam king is looking to bestow a repeat Parisian present on his wife Mirka: Federer won the 2009 French Open after she had just given birth to twin girls, and the couple recently welcomed twin boys into their family.

Elsewhere, it’s hard to assess where Wimbledon champion Andy Murray stands, as he still is trying to return to consistent former following back surgery late last year. David Ferrer, who made his first Slam final last year, is always a threat to roll deep at Roland Garros and could meet Rafa in the quarters this time around. Nishikori, the first Japanese player to make the ATP top 10, and No. 8 seed Milos Raonic, the 23-year-old Canadian with the booming serve, may also prove interesting on the terra baute.  Seeded 11th, John Isner is the highest-ranked American male.

Herewith is what the networks have in store for viewers from the French over the next couple of weeks:

NBC

Now in its 32nd consecutive year of coverage, the Peacock has reason to strut with the tourney’s marquee matches:  men’s and women’s semifinal action, as well as its “café and croissant” presentations of the business end of the tournament. Ted Robinson, in his 15th French Open, anchors the broadcaster's booth with Mary Carillo and John McEnroe, the Parisian mixed doubles winners from 1977. The trio will make the finals calls on June 7 and June 8, when the winners lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and Coupe des Mousquetaires, respectively.

NBC Sports Live Extra — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets — will stream the network's French Open coverage. The vast majority of the content will be streamed live via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to authenticated customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

FRENCH OPEN ON NBC

ESPN

ESPN2 will deliver more and 50 hours of coverage, while broadband service ESPN3 will showcase some 330 hours of action from up to seven courts on the days when the TV network is on the air. ESPN2 and ESPN3 will begin at 5 a.m. most days on weekdays through Thursday, June 5, culminating with the women’s semifinals.

After the opening day, ESPN2’s schedule will continue with an all-live telecast starting at 5 a.m. each day through Friday, May 30, and then again on Monday, June 2.  The network will air live and same-day quarterfinal action Tuesday, June 4, at 1 p.m. and Wednesday, June 5, at 8 a.m.  ESPN2 will air both women’s semifinals live Thursday, June 6, beginning at 9 a.m.

ESPN is bringing most of its veteran tennis on-air team to Paris: Darren Cahill, Chris Evert, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe, Mary Joe Fernandez, Chris Fowler and Pam Shriver.

TV Everywhere service WatchESPN will live-stream ESPN2’s live coverage of the French Open online at WatchESPN.com, as well as on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. It also accessible to Xbox LIVE to Gold members, and on Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. All told, WatchESPN reaches more than 92 million households nationwide via affiliated video or Internet providers.

2014 French Open on ESPN2 & ESPN2 HD

2014 French Open on ESPN3

Tennis Channel

As the primary rights-holder, the dedicated racquet sports network, which is increasing its reach from 35 million to 50 million homes via freeviews from Dish Network and DirecTV, serves up by far the most French Open coverage.

Now in its seventh year of an alliance in which it exchanges rights to Roland Garros and the Australian Open with ESPN, Tennis is providing the production from the cable side in Paris and benefits from cross-channel promotion with the worldwide leader.

Starting with the opening Sunday through the men's semifinal round Friday, June 6, Tennis will proffer 12 days of live coverage, followed by same-day encore matches during championship weekend. All told, Tennis Channel will air more than 250 round-the-clock hours from this year's Roland Garros –70 of live or first-run matches, almost 60 dedicated to replays and 120 to three-hour nightly show French Open Tonight (37.5 first-run), hosted by Bill Macatee.

For the most part,  Tennis’ daily schedule consists of nine-hour match blocks that start at 10 a.m. and run to 3:30 p.m. on most days. The live coverage is followed by three-and-a-half hours of encore replays, which serve as a bridge to French Open Tonight. The program, premiering from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., before encoring two more times until 4 a.m., offers a nightly digest of that day's play via interviews, highlights, features and full game or set replays when appropriate. Guests include players, coaches, Hall of Famers, tennis officials, occasional celebrities, reporters, Tennis Channel analysts and others associated with Roland Garros.

In addition to Macatee, Tennis’ French Open on-air squad encompasses Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Ian Eagle, Justin Gimelstob, Brett Haber, Katrina Adams, Rennae Stubbs, Leif Shiras and John Wertheim, as well as Carillo and Robinson.

Paul Annacone, the noted coach (currently with Stephens, he previously worked with Federer and Pete Sampras) and former player, is making his first French appearance for the network, as is two-time titlist Jim Courier, the current U.S. Davis Cup captain, who is continuing to expand his workload with Tennis.

The network’s app, Tennis Channel Everywhere, is free to all Apple or Android users whether or not they currently subscribe to the linead service, and they can check out daily updates, online video highlights, “Court Report” news updates and player “Bag Check” clips.

Authenticated Dish, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, National Cable Television Cooperative and now Cox subscribers can live stream Tennis’ French Open match coverage.

Tennis Channel's Live 2014 French Open Match Schedule (Men's/Women's Singles Unless Otherwise Specified)

Date                                        Time (ET)                  Event                                     

Sunday, May 25                      10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        First-Round Action

Monday, May 26                    10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        First-Round Action

Tuesday, May 27                    10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        First-Round Action

Wednesday, May 28               10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        Second-Round Action

Thursday, May 29                   10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        Second-Round Action

Friday, May 30                       10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        Third-Round Action

Saturday, May 31                   5 a.m.-Noon                Third-Round Action

Sunday, June 1                        5 a.m.-1 p.m.               Round-of-16 Action

Monday, June 2                      10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.        Round-of-16 Action

Tuesday, June 3                      8 a.m.-1 p.m.               Quarterfinals

Thursday, June 5                     6 a.m.-9 a.m.               Mixed-Doubles Final

Friday, June 6                         7 a.m.-11 a.m.             Men's Semifinal

Tennis Channel Encore Match Coverage

Wednesday, June 4 - 1 p.m.-7 p.m.: men's and women's singles quarterfinals

Thursday, June 5 - 2 p.m.-7 p.m.: women's semifinals

Friday, June 6 - 5 p.m.-midnight: men's semifinals

Saturday, June 7 - 12 a.m.-7 a.m.: men's semifinals; 9 p.m.-11 p.m. women's final

Sunday, June 8 - 7 a.m.-9 a.m. and 7 p.m.-9 p.m.: women's final; 9 p.m.-midnight: men's final

(Additional encores will air after the tournament during the week of June 8)