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LOS ANGELES – Tennis Channel has seen its highest total in viewing during Roland Garros (commonly known as the French Open). In the Nielsen metered markets, the network had 115 million quarter-hour household impressions over the tournament, despite numerous rain delays stopping play. This number represents the greatest viewing in network history for the tournament and is a 7-percent increase from last year’s 107 million.

Tennis Channel’s highest rated match was achieved during the first week before most of the rain delays and featured superstar Serena Williams against Kristina Mladenovic of France, with a 1.24 household coverage-area rating in the Nielsen metered markets, representing 307,000 homes. This match gave the network a 14-percent increase over last year’s highest rated first-week match between American Sloane Stephens and Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.

Along with the linear channel, the network has seen significant growth across all of its digital platforms. Despite the rain delays, Tennis Channel Plus, the network’s subscription streaming service, saw an increase in paid subscribers of 130%. This growth can be attributed to the network’s overall ratings increase, a 26% increase in TV Everywhere usage and a subscriber-acquisition joint promotion with the USTA. Tennis Channel Plus experienced increased growth across all platforms with “Connected TV” being the most notable. On the first day of the tournament the service ranked as the No. 1 grossing sports app on Apple TV (and No. 2 on iPad) and has consistently ranked in the top-three grossing sports apps through the entire tournament. In addition, Tennis Channel Plus experienced overall usage increases with total live playbacks increasing 53% versus the previous year and average session times increasing by 37%.

Tennis Channel (tennischannel.com), which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights at the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, top-tier WTA competitions, Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 video providers.

About Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI)

Sinclair is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 173 television stations in 81 markets, broadcasting 483 channels and has affiliations with all the major networks. Sinclair is the leading local news provider in the country, as well as a producer of live sports content. Sinclair’s content is delivered over multiple-platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and digital platforms. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed at sbgi.net.