Tennis Channel Says Vive Les Advertisers
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 5/20/2007 8:00:00 PM
As The Tennis Channel personnel prepare to decamp to Paris for the French Open, the network has netted a slew of new advertisers tied to its presentation of the Grand Slam event.
Tennis Channel boss Ken Solomon said the network’s inaugural French Open telecasts will include commercials from Land Rover, LaCoste, Coppertone, Zatarain’s rice and financial-services provider Raymond James. In addition, endemic advertisers like Nike Tennis Camps, Tennis Warehouse, Har-Tru and Head/Penn have stepped up for the first time.
Solomon said the magnitude of the event — Tennis’s first live Grand Slam event coverage and its expanded reach — helped bolster its advertising roster.
BONUS SUBSCRIBERS
Tennis, with about 10 million subscribers, will provide more than 100 match hours. It has also obtained agreements with cable and satellite-TV affiliates to open their lineups to another 40 million subscribers collectively, Solomon said.
Last August, Tennis secured its first live U.S. rights action to a Grand Slam event from the French Tennis Federation. In January, the network inked an alliance with ESPN through 2011, under which ESPN2 gains the right from Tennis to present French Open coverage, as well as new-media capabilities. In exchange, Tennis nets 100 hours of live and taped coverage rights to the Australian Open from ESPN.
Together, Tennis and ESPN2 will provide around the clock coverage during the tournament’s fortnight of May 27 through June 10.
Tennis also hopes to build exposure via a sweepstakes with Chamarré wines at some 2,000 retail locations. “Neckers” on bottles and counter “standees” tout coverage and a prize package including a 2008 French Open trip.
Tennis’s Parisian presence has also opened up the ad court to sponsor-supported features from Head racquets/Penn tennis balls, in which analysts John McEnroe and Martina Navritilova will select the “Extreme Shots” of the day (Head produces the Extreme racquet).
During its 3.5 hours of French Open Tonight primetime coverage, “Maria’s PowerShots of Paris” vignettes will highlight the work of photographers from around the city. A graphic of Canon spokeswoman and No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova will be integrated into the content, which will be followed by a Canon billboard and then new creative.
“Maria has a great eye for photography, so this is organic to her role with Canon,” said Solomon.
Solomon believes French Open Tonight, anchored by Bill Macatee and starting with the Eiffel Tower in the background, will be an eye-opener.
“We’ll have the benefit of immediate hindsight. This won’t be a highlights show because we’re going to cut down the matches, like the NFL Network does [with its game replays] and get to the turning point and most critical shots,” Solomon said. “It will be the best of the matches, so viewers will feel like they didn’t miss a thing.”
PARISIAN SIDELIGHTS
He also said viewers will be kept apprised of happenings around the city as its mobile, two-level set, which can be rigged to reach 50-feet in the air, will be wheeled to such locations as Notre Dame, the Moulin Rouge, the Bastille, Vaux le Vicomte and the Leblioquet jazz club in Saint Germain.
French Open Tonight will include themes involving art, food, the Revolution and life along the Seine.
“This is how a Grand Slam should be covered by a network dedicated to tennis and its lifestyle,” said Solomon,
The channel also is kicking up its serve on broadband. As many as four matches will be streamed daily at tennis channel.com. The site also will offer archival matches, highlights and original Tennis content. And the network is finalizing arrangements for Yahoo provision of Tennis-branded clips and highlights.
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what is wrong with Direct tv. why won't they carry the tennis chanel.
Ron Davis - 6/5/2007 4:05:00 PM EDT
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