Tennis Channel

The Tennis Channel is an American sports network that broadcasts on digital cable and satellite television. It is owned by the Sinclair Television Group, a part of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The channel focuses on tennis and other racquet sports such as badminton, pickleball, and racquetball.

The Tennis Channel began broadcasting on May 15, 2003. Its main office is in Santa Monica, California, and it creates its shows from a modern broadcast center in Culver City, near Los Angeles.

As of November 2023, the Tennis Channel reaches about 38 million homes in the United States. This number is smaller than its highest point in 2019, when it was available in around 63 million households.

History

In 2001, the Tennis Channel was started by Steve Bellamy in his backyard shed. He brought in Bruce Rider to help with programming and marketing. A group called the "Viacom Mafia" helped by investing money, along with famous tennis players Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. They believed a channel just for tennis would attract viewers and advertisers.

The channel officially began on May 15, 2003. Over the years, it added many tennis events, including the French Open and the Citi Open. In 2016, a big company named Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the Tennis Channel. Since then, the channel has continued to grow, showing more tennis matches and events for fans to enjoy.

On-air personalities

The Tennis Channel has many famous people who help present its shows. Some of these people include Prakash Amritraj, Paul Annacone, Jimmy Arias, Tracy Austin, James Blake, Danielle Collins, Jim Courier, Lindsay Davenport, Vicky Duval, Jan-Michael Gambill, Brett Haber, Dani Klupenger, Mark Knowles, Nick Monroe, Kamau Murray, Martina Navratilova, Nicolas Pereira, Andrea Petkovic, Ted Robinson, Andy Roddick, Chanda Rubin, Leif Shiras, Coco Vandeweghe, Steve Weissman, Jon Wertheim, and Ari Wolfe. These people share their knowledge and excitement about tennis and other racquet sports.

Streaming channels

Tennis Channel offers several streaming services for fans to enjoy more tennis and related sports. There is a subscription service that provides extra content not shown on TV, and a free channel with the best moments from past shows. Another free channel focuses on live tennis matches that are not broadcast on the main Tennis Channel and can be found on various streaming platforms. There is also a special channel for pickleball, a fun sport similar to tennis, which can be watched through Tennis Channel's app and other streaming services.

Programming

The Tennis Channel shows live tennis matches, news, interviews, and lessons to help improve your game. You can watch big tournaments like the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, and Hopman Cup. Until 2025, the channel was the only place to watch the French Open on cable, though sometimes they shared it with ESPN. Now, starting in 2024, the French Open will be shown on TNT Sports.

The channel also has its own special shows. Some of these include ATP … Tennis, a weekly show about tennis tours, and Bag Check, where they look inside tennis players’ bags. There’s also Center Court with Chris Myers, an interview show with top players and coaches. Other shows cover travel, pop culture, and even podcasts with famous tennis players like Nick Kyrgios and Andy Roddick.

The Tennis Channel started showing high-definition programs on December 31, 2007.

Carriage disputes

In 2011, Tennis Channel stopped being shown on several services because they disagreed about where the channel should be placed. The channel was available again on one service in 2012.

Later in 2012, a decision was made that another service should show Tennis Channel in a different place, but they disagreed and kept it in its old spot. The issue continued, and Tennis Channel asked a higher court to decide, but the court did not hear the case.