Tennis Channel

The Tennis Channel is an American sports network. It shows tennis and other racquet sports on digital cable and satellite television. The Sinclair Television Group owns it, and this group is part of the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The channel shows tennis and other sports like badminton, pickleball, and racquetball.

The Tennis Channel started broadcasting on May 15, 2003. Its main office is in Santa Monica, California. It makes 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 in 2019, when it was in around 63 million homes.

History

In 2001, the Tennis Channel was started by Steve Bellamy in his backyard shed. He had help from Bruce Rider for programming and marketing. A group called the "Viacom Mafia" helped by giving money, and famous tennis players Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi joined in. They thought a channel just for tennis would get lots of viewers and advertisers.

The channel officially started on May 15, 2003. Over the years, it added many tennis events, like the French Open and the Citi Open. In 2016, a big company called the Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the Tennis Channel. Since then, the channel has kept growing, 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 has streaming services for fans to watch more tennis and related sports. There is a subscription service with extra content not shown on TV, and a free channel with the best moments from past shows. Another free channel shows live tennis matches not on the main Tennis Channel and can be found on different 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. 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 has special shows too. 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 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 was not shown on some services because they could not agree on where to place the channel. It returned to one service in 2012.

Later in 2012, another service decided to move Tennis Channel to a new spot, but they disagreed and kept it in the old place. The problem went on, and Tennis Channel asked a higher court to decide, but the court did not take the case.