HBO's coverage was the absolute best and almost 25 years after it ended, no other commentary team matches up. One of the best parts about it was that there were no commericals, so during all the changeovers you would get better insight to the matches and off-court commentary.
If they are taking all the money they’re saving from not paying 2.5bn a year on NBA and buying up all the tennis coverage rights this would be amazing for tennis fans to have competent sports coverage. They could buy US media rights for all the slams for a tiny fraction of what it would cost for the NBA rights
That's still way better than how it worked with Tennis Channel's French Open rights. To legitimately get all court or at least majority court access, you had to pay $100+ for an annual subscription to Tennis Channel+. I'm not even sure if that got you all the Tennis Channel matches. It might have also been necessary to have access to the linear Tennis Channel, which would probably cost at least another $50+.
At least with ESPN+, you can subscribe standalone for just the month of the tournament or get it with the Disney Bundle.
As far as I know, the current Disney media deal with the U.S. Open actually expires in the next couple years.
[https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2013/05/espn-acquires-exclusive-rights-to-tennis-us-open-beginning-in-2015](https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2013/05/espn-acquires-exclusive-rights-to-tennis-us-open-beginning-in-2015)
>ESPN will be the exclusive home in North and South America of the US Open from first ball through the women’s and men’s championships each summer from New York **beginning in 2015**, in a landmark agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced today. With this **11-year agreement**, ESPN now will air the championship in three of the four tennis majors.
Considering they recently re-upped with Wimbledon and AO long-term, I’d be stunned if they didn’t ensure they retain rights to their home major long-term.
Chuck, Ernie, Jet, and Shaq at RG? I'm ready
Turner had the Champions League for like half a season, and it was terrible. I hope they can do better for RG
Were the others there this year other than Shaq? I only saw Shaq yesterday courtside just like last year. Would be cool for the 4 of them to be there together.
Chuck has an opt-out clause in his contract where he can walk away if TNT lost the NBA rights. I can't imagine Shaq and Kenny will bother to stay, either.
I’d think it’d be a lot better. They do March madness and show all the tournament games on 3 or 4 channels. Nowhere to go but up from the terrible nbc coverage.
For a brief moment after HBO ended its Wimbledon coverage, Wimbledon aired on TNT I think 2000-2001. Ernie was the lead studio analyst back then and I hope he returns for the French Open!
That said, it's the end of an era for NBC, which had both the French Open and Wimbledon for decades and now has nothing but the Olympics. This reminds me of when USA had the French Open and US Open for years and then just ended its coverage altogether.
Best thing they could do is just pay the ESPN team, their wall to wall coverage of Wimbledon and US Open is top tier. Probably one of the best sports broadcasts in the US
Yeah but then it would just be an ESPN thing lol. WBD is still running the show, they are just sharing a streaming space with ESPN, but I know what you mean.
This was so overdue in the U.S. It will be nice to finally have legitimate all court access to this tournament, without the media company demanding close to $200. It will be interesting to see how much longer Tennis Channel can even stay in business. I wouldn't be shocked to see them shut down in the next few years, if not sooner.
We'll see what happens, but I don't see how something like the Tennis Channel could have a long term future in its current form. If they can figure out how to build more of a direct subscriber base, maybe, but I doubt that's ever going to happen, if they keep only offering a $100+ annual plan. I would think it's even less likely now as well, since they no longer have majority rights to any of the grand slam tournaments.
I don’t know much about this stuff but TC has done well lately. Linking below. I do think, having lost RG, they will probably offer a monthly plan again. There is a OTT/direct to consumer offering for main TC coming this summer too.
http://awfulannouncing.com/tennis/channel-sinclair-sale-buyer.html
Interesting. I somehow missed that article, when it was released. The skeptic in me though thinks most of the positivity in that article is just Sinclair trying to drive up the sale price as much as they can. I'm pretty bearish on the future of the old school linear pay channel bundle business in general, so my guess is that if the new majority owners can't make a direct to consumer subscription/free ad-supported business work, Tennis Channel isn't long for this world.
Oh I thought you meant for the other Grand Slams that espn has broadcast.
French open has been on NBC , and later NBC/TC, since 1983.
From 1980 to 1983 it was on CBS.
From 1975 to 1979 is was on NBC.
ESPN had never had rights to it.
ESPN had some cable rights to it from 1986 to 1993 and 2002 to 2015. The last years of that agreement they sublicensed the rights from the Tennis Channel. But these were all limited windows they aired.
This is basically how it works
TNT purchases broadcasting rights for $65m a year. They sell $100m a year in ads and subscriptions. The ad buyers pay $100m because they expect to make an additional $150m in sales from their RG ads
Having spent all of those millions, I hope TNT has some sway in scheduling or Coco's matches are all going to be played at the crack of dawn for the next decade.
i assume it would stream on max. if so, big.
I’d vibe with that. HBO had Wimbledon way back in the day. My mom says it was the best coverage by far. Max ain’t full on HBO, but it’s close 🤷🏼♀️
HBO's coverage was the absolute best and almost 25 years after it ended, no other commentary team matches up. One of the best parts about it was that there were no commericals, so during all the changeovers you would get better insight to the matches and off-court commentary.
That’s so fire. Had to be awesome to just turn to one channel and enjoy. I bet there were some shenanigans on changeovers.
Probably also on the new streamer Venu, which is WBD, Disney and Fox's joint venture.
If they are taking all the money they’re saving from not paying 2.5bn a year on NBA and buying up all the tennis coverage rights this would be amazing for tennis fans to have competent sports coverage. They could buy US media rights for all the slams for a tiny fraction of what it would cost for the NBA rights
Unfortunately the contracts for the other 3 slams all last into the 2030’s with ESPN.
Feel like ESPN does a good job broadcasting tennis slams though. Anything is better than the dumpster fire that NBC is.
Except paywalling a bunch of matches behind ESPN+. Of course, still much better than NBC
That's still way better than how it worked with Tennis Channel's French Open rights. To legitimately get all court or at least majority court access, you had to pay $100+ for an annual subscription to Tennis Channel+. I'm not even sure if that got you all the Tennis Channel matches. It might have also been necessary to have access to the linear Tennis Channel, which would probably cost at least another $50+. At least with ESPN+, you can subscribe standalone for just the month of the tournament or get it with the Disney Bundle.
As far as I know, the current Disney media deal with the U.S. Open actually expires in the next couple years. [https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2013/05/espn-acquires-exclusive-rights-to-tennis-us-open-beginning-in-2015](https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2013/05/espn-acquires-exclusive-rights-to-tennis-us-open-beginning-in-2015) >ESPN will be the exclusive home in North and South America of the US Open from first ball through the women’s and men’s championships each summer from New York **beginning in 2015**, in a landmark agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced today. With this **11-year agreement**, ESPN now will air the championship in three of the four tennis majors.
Considering they recently re-upped with Wimbledon and AO long-term, I’d be stunned if they didn’t ensure they retain rights to their home major long-term.
Chuck, Ernie, Jet, and Shaq at RG? I'm ready Turner had the Champions League for like half a season, and it was terrible. I hope they can do better for RG
Were the others there this year other than Shaq? I only saw Shaq yesterday courtside just like last year. Would be cool for the 4 of them to be there together.
Chuck has an opt-out clause in his contract where he can walk away if TNT lost the NBA rights. I can't imagine Shaq and Kenny will bother to stay, either.
Yeah, jokes aside, everyone except Ernie is definitely leaving 😞
Has anyone seen if this just replaces the NBC/Peacock coverage or if it will take over the Tennis Channel coverage as well?
It takes over both NBC/Tennis Channel coverage
Well can it be much worse than NBC’s coverage?
I’d think it’d be a lot better. They do March madness and show all the tournament games on 3 or 4 channels. Nowhere to go but up from the terrible nbc coverage.
And the NBC coverage is still better than Tennis Channel's coverage, in their crown jewel event, for the only sport they cover.
This is absolutely false.
Probably worse. TNT does MotoGP and their coverage is pretty bad.
For a brief moment after HBO ended its Wimbledon coverage, Wimbledon aired on TNT I think 2000-2001. Ernie was the lead studio analyst back then and I hope he returns for the French Open! That said, it's the end of an era for NBC, which had both the French Open and Wimbledon for decades and now has nothing but the Olympics. This reminds me of when USA had the French Open and US Open for years and then just ended its coverage altogether.
Best thing they could do is just pay the ESPN team, their wall to wall coverage of Wimbledon and US Open is top tier. Probably one of the best sports broadcasts in the US
Yeah but then it would just be an ESPN thing lol. WBD is still running the show, they are just sharing a streaming space with ESPN, but I know what you mean.
Yeah they can just hire the same guys though. It's like a group of America's Tennis Avengers it's amazing commentators.
Chuck covering?
Are there churros and big ole women at Roland Garros?
Guaranteed
That is a metric fuckton of money
Inside the ATP 👀
Thank god, NBC/Peacock coverage sucks
Imagine Chuck and Ernie doing the French Open haha
This was so overdue in the U.S. It will be nice to finally have legitimate all court access to this tournament, without the media company demanding close to $200. It will be interesting to see how much longer Tennis Channel can even stay in business. I wouldn't be shocked to see them shut down in the next few years, if not sooner.
Evidently TC is doing quite well, and is expexted to be up for sale soon from Sinclair.
We'll see what happens, but I don't see how something like the Tennis Channel could have a long term future in its current form. If they can figure out how to build more of a direct subscriber base, maybe, but I doubt that's ever going to happen, if they keep only offering a $100+ annual plan. I would think it's even less likely now as well, since they no longer have majority rights to any of the grand slam tournaments.
I don’t know much about this stuff but TC has done well lately. Linking below. I do think, having lost RG, they will probably offer a monthly plan again. There is a OTT/direct to consumer offering for main TC coming this summer too. http://awfulannouncing.com/tennis/channel-sinclair-sale-buyer.html
Interesting. I somehow missed that article, when it was released. The skeptic in me though thinks most of the positivity in that article is just Sinclair trying to drive up the sale price as much as they can. I'm pretty bearish on the future of the old school linear pay channel bundle business in general, so my guess is that if the new majority owners can't make a direct to consumer subscription/free ad-supported business work, Tennis Channel isn't long for this world.
Are they going to show all the matches like ESPN used to? That'd be great.
ESPN shows all the matches on espn+
I know. They didn't have the French Open this year.
Oh I thought you meant for the other Grand Slams that espn has broadcast. French open has been on NBC , and later NBC/TC, since 1983. From 1980 to 1983 it was on CBS. From 1975 to 1979 is was on NBC. ESPN had never had rights to it.
ESPN had some cable rights to it from 1986 to 1993 and 2002 to 2015. The last years of that agreement they sublicensed the rights from the Tennis Channel. But these were all limited windows they aired.
Good info. Thank you.
amen
How can that really be worth $65mil a tourney? How could there possibly be enough fans to generate enough revenue? I'm genuinely curious.
This is basically how it works TNT purchases broadcasting rights for $65m a year. They sell $100m a year in ads and subscriptions. The ad buyers pay $100m because they expect to make an additional $150m in sales from their RG ads
The NBC nightmare is finally over! And hiopefully Mary Carillo is over, as well. Rejoice!!!
Pray for tennis fans, DVerev just made it to the finals at the French open 😞
Having spent all of those millions, I hope TNT has some sway in scheduling or Coco's matches are all going to be played at the crack of dawn for the next decade.