ESPN, Tennis Channel On Serve With Australian Open Coverage
Networks Begin First Year Of Providing Coverage Of Sport's Four Grand Slams
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 1/18/2009 7:13:00 AM
Tennis' Grand Slam season throws in its first serve today (actually tomorrow in Melbourne), with ESPN and Tennis Channel acting as a doubles team with their coverage of the Australian Open.
For the first time, both ESPN and Tennis will provide coverage from all four Slams, with both networks on board to provide coverage not only from Down Under, but Roland Garros in Paris, the Wimbledon fortnight and finally the U.S. Open from Flushing Meadows in late summer.
DirecTV will also supply an unprecedented sweep of all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. The satellite leader, for the first time from the Australian Open, will integrate its interactive services with ESPN2 and Tennis Channel broadcasts, and feature its six screens-in-one Mix ChannelESPN and its family of networks and Web sites begin its comprehensive coverage Sunday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2, while Tennis Channel gets in the game on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. Down Under, ESPN, which is televising the Australian for the 25th year, is the primary telecaster, scheduled to provide nearly 100 hours of primetime and overnight coverage on ESPN2, plus 57 more in afternoon encores.
Additionally, broadband ESPN360.com will offer more than 430 hours - all live from Melbourne, with users choosing between action on six courts.
For its part, Tennis Channel is scheduled to air more than 30 live or first-run hours during the two-week major, as well as the same-day repeats of the men's and women's singles semifinals and finals. During Tennis Channel's inaugural Australian Open in 2008, the network became the first in U.S. television to carry live or repeat telecasts of the men's and women's singles and doubles finals and mixed doubles championship.
In addition to comprehensive tournament telecasts, Tennis will return daily morning show Australian Open Today to U.S. viewers who are just getting a start on their daily activities as the action is coming to a close on the other side of the world. The network will air close to 75 original hours of the six-hour recap show, offering highlights, previously unseen matches, original features and more beginning each morning at 8 a.m. (ET).
On the court, Novak Djokovic looks to defend his crown on the men's side, while Roger Federer could equal Pete Sampras' record of 14 Slam titles with a win. The tourney marks the first time that Rafael Nadal will play in Melbourne as the world's top player. However, odds-makers have made Scotland's Andy Murray, who lost to Federer in Flushing Meadows last September, the favorite.As for the women, defending champion Maria Sharapova, still recovering from shoulder woes, won't defend her crown. Jelena Yankovic is looking to solidify her No. 1 ranking with her first major title. Meanwhile, America's best hopes, per usual, rest with the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.
The Australian Open is part of Tennis Channel's Grand Slam multimedia alliance with ESPN2, which offers audiences a near round-the-clock tournament experience. ESPN2 is producing all Australian Open coverage for both networks, which will tout each other's fare and make use of their own commentators. The situation is reversed in Paris, where Tennis is the primary telecaster.
ESPN and Tennis engaged in an exchange of Australian and French Open rights in 2007, which also pertains to shared production and cross promotion. Both networks use their own on-air talent.
The networks also have rights to Wimbledon, with ESPN taking center stage. In New York, Tennis, in a deal reached last May, is sublicensing rights from ESPN.
The networks have supplanted USA, which opted not to renew its rights after 25 years. USA broadcast brethren NBC remains the broadcaster for Roland Garros and Wimbledon coverage, while CBS continues with the U.S. Open.
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Could somebody please tell Dick Enberg how to pronounce N A D A L!!!! It's just 5 letters.
Lois Blackman - 1/24/2010 11:48:45 AM EST -
I agree about Pam Shriver and her motormouth...Put a lid on it...She asked so many inane questions of poor John Isner the other day, I thought his eyes were going to roll up into his head. Lucky for her, Isner's got manners. Incidentally, ESPN, there are more tennis players than the Williams Sisters...as good as they are, can we have a little variety please.
Emily Drummond - 1/22/2010 10:17:56 PM EST -
Pam Shriver: Please shut up, your negativity is really annoying, why is it so hard to acknowledge talent and stop blaming the system!! Will have to stop watching ESPN at this rate.
Pam Sucks - 9/3/2009 10:10:16 PM EDT -
Direct TV multi-channel mix was great while it lasted. Unfortunately it quit just as the Australian Open reached the most interesting stage. ESPN coverage is
AWFUL IN EVERY WAY!
1. insipid announcers rehash same things over and over and over -- we've heard about the roof closing during Serena Williams match over 100 times -- puke!
2. distracting ticker tape garbage continuously across bottom of screen
3. coverage of Williams Sisters doubles match starts, then changes to Roddick match in the middle -- just plain STUPID
4. miss key on-court action due to commercials and useless commentary
Worst coverage of a sporting event ever!
George Hernan - 1/28/2009 1:14:29 AM EST -
I am a big tennis fan and this has been great! Thank you ESPN and DirectTV. And to top it off, on those extra HD DirectTV channels, there are no commercials. We're wondering how long that will last! Will you ever be able to tie, on a daily basis, the DirectTV channels to the tennis schedules as part of the interactive functionality, so that we can record ahead of time? Also, we would like to see more doubles...
One last thing RE: ESPN tennis coverage - your trademark scrolling banners hide too much of the bottom of the screen. Just something to think about..
I congratulate you, and I look forward to watching all the Opens this year with you!
P.S. My British husband wants to know when you will do the same for Premiereship soccer!
Elizabeth Wring - 1/23/2009 9:58:32 PM EST
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