Four-Year Partnership Includes Commitment for More Than 100 Hours of Live and Same Day Coverage of Five US Open Series Events in 2004
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 12, 2004 – The USTA and The Tennis Channel has announced a cable and satellite television partnership that includes a four-year commitment for live weekday and select weekend coverage of the US Open Series through 2007. In addition, the deal includes a comprehensive marketing and promotion commitment for the US Open Series and the sport of tennis.
The agreement includes more than 65 hours of live coverage of US Open Series tournaments with an additional 40 hours of same-day delayed broadcasts this year. The Tennis Channel joins ESPN, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports as partners in broadcasting a total of more than 200 hours of US Open Series events this summer.
Over the next four years, The Tennis Channel will broadcast US Open Series events on weekdays, with select weekend singles and doubles semifinals coverage. For 2004, The Tennis Channel will cover the following US Open Series tournaments: Mercedes-Benz Cup (Los Angeles); JPMorgan Chase Open (Los Angeles); Rogers Cup (Montreal); and Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington, D.C.).
The new agreement also provides for a regularly scheduled doubles final schedule for several US Open Series tournaments airing on The Tennis Channel. The Tennis Channel also will broadcast select semifinal singles matches, including one semifinal from both the JP Morgan Chase Open and the Rogers Cup.
“We are thrilled to partner with The Tennis Channel to create another way for fans to follow the US Open Series throughout the summer,” said Arlen Kantarian, Chief Executive, Professional Tennis, USTA. “The Tennis Channel provides an enormous, 24-hour-a-day boost for tennis, and coverage of the US Open Series further adds to The Tennis Channel’s expanding broadcast schedule.”
“There are few sports being played at the level of professional tennis right now. There has been a virtual rebirth of the sport of late and the synergy between the US Open Series, heavy broadcast interest and The Tennis Channel is going to be phenomenal,” said Steve Bellamy, President and Founder, The Tennis Channel. “This amount of coverage of these great events with the biggest stars in tennis is a dream come true for tennis fans.”
The US Open Series begins this week with the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif., and the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles. The US Open Series is the six-week summer tennis season for 11 ATP and WTA Tour professional tournaments in North America leading up to and linked to the US Open.
The Tennis Channel (www.thetennischannel.com) is the 24-hour cable television network devoted to tennis and other racquet sports, and provides unparalleled coverage of the game, its elite championships and its superstar athletes. The network’s comprehensive coverage includes telecasts of the US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, Fed Cup and Hyundai Hopman Cup. The Tennis Channel also showcases instruction from the finest teachers, legendary matches, in-depth profiles of the greatest players, analysis and news, the latest on equipment, and tennis getaways.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. It owns and operates the US Open, the largest annually attended sporting event in the world. In addition, it owns the 96 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S., and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. A not-for-profit organization with more than 675,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass roots to the professional levels. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com.