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LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel will provide exclusive coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup team’s competition against Colombia in Bogota, Colombia, this weekend, with live and same-day, “Instant Encore” replays Friday through Sunday. Because the Americans lost in the first round of this year’s tournament, they must defeat Colombia in order to compete for the Davis Cup in 2011. If the U.S. team loses, next year will mark the first time since 1988 that it is ineligible to play for the championship. The United States leads all nations in Davis Cup titles, winning its 32nd in 2007 against Russia.

Play-in competition between the United States and Colombia will consist of two singles matches on Friday, Sept. 17, at 11 a.m. ET, followed by the doubles match Saturday, Sept. 18, at 12 p.m. ET. Tennis Channel’s coverage concludes with the remaining singles play Sunday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m. ET. Each evening at 8 p.m. ET Tennis Channel will offer an encore presentation of the day’s Davis Cup action.

Coverage from Plaza de Toros La Santamaria, Bogota, Columbia (all times ET):

Friday, Sept. 17:

Saturday, Sept. 18:

Sunday, Sept. 19:

In addition to televising the United States and Colombia’s Davis Cup play-in this weekend, Tennis Channel will cover the 2010 Davis Cup semifinal match between Argentina and France in Lyon, France. France hopes to uphold its unbeaten record of 4-0 against Argentina. The most recent competition between the two nations was in the 1982 Davis Cup first round when France beat Argentina 3-2 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Competition between the two nations will consist of two singles matches on Friday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 a.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET, followed by the doubles match Saturday, Sept. 18, at 9 a.m. ET and singles play Sunday, Sept. 19, at 5 p.m. ET.

The United States and Colombia have faced each other twice before, with the nations tied at one win a piece. This is the first time since 1979 that the two will meet, with the American squad beating Colombia 5-0 then. However, Colombia previously defeated the United States 4-1 in 1974. The Americans enter this weekend’s match after suffering their first first-round loss in five years when they were defeated by Serbia 3-2 in March.

Patrick McEnroe will lead the U.S. squad, his last match as captain. McEnroe has been the United States Davis Cup coach since 2000 and led the team to a Davis Cup title in 2007. The United States team features John Isner, Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison.

If Colombia wins this weekend it will compete for the 2011 Davis Cup. The team is captained by Felipe Beron and features Santiago Giraldo, Alejandro Falla, Carlos Salamanca and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Tennis Channel (tennischannel.com)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 to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP Masters Series, top-tier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour championship competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 MSOs, Verizon FiOS TV, and has a national footprint via DIRECTV and DISH Network.