Indian Wells Coverage Begins This Weekend
March 9, 2011
LOS ANGELES — This month Tennis Channel will carry more live television coverage from the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open than any other network, with nearly 130 hours combined. Including encore replays the network will feature more than 300 hours from Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami, respectively, home of the most renowned professional tennis events outside of the sport’s four majors. Coverage begins Saturday, March 12, with second-round play from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, continuing through to men’s and women’s doubles finals and on to the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami beginning Saturday, March 26, through to the men’s and women’s quarterfinals (see complete schedules below).
Coverage of the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open is a significant component of the telecast rights extension from last November. Each of the March competitions has been called “The Fifth Slam” within the industry, and both feature tournament fields surpassed in size only by Wimbledon, the US Open, French Open and Australian Open. Tennis Channel will offer the most live television coverage of each, with 73 hours in Indian Wells and 52 hours in Miami. The channel will also present encore coverage of these matches and later-round semifinal and championship play.
Broadcasting legend Ted Robinson will voice play by play in Miami along with former player and analyst, Justin Gimelstob. Tennis Channel’s coverage will also feature up-to-the-minute tennis news provided by Court Report roving reporter Cari Champion, who will be on site during both competitions.
All ATP World Tour Masters 1000 coverage on Tennis Channel, including BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open, is in high definition.
Tennis Channel (www.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 World Tour Masters 1000 events, top-tier WTA 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, AT&T U-verse, DIRECTV and DISH Network.