Is the Tennis Channel losing money?

[tacou]

I remember hearing some legal rumblings a few months ago, that they weren't included in basic sports packages or something..

Anyways, I had TTC for awhile, moved and lost it, and just got it again for this season. Needless to say, I am already disappointed.

I got TTC specifically for Hopman Cup, which they used to air all week, in full, live. So far it has been broadcast sporadically and on delay. No Brisbane or Chennai for men (maybe he semis?) and the WTA matches are also on delay.

Why is TTC coverage diminishing instead of expanding? For what purpose is TTC airing tennis on delays? There has been live coverage of Doha so airing live tennis isn't the problem per say...

[veroniquem]

My provider stopped carrying TTC because of money issues, so that channel has become totally useless to me. (And it's not like I could easily solve the problem by switching to another provider. Several providers in my area dropped the channel for the same reason)

[DropShotArtist]

It's losing money because of the defensive style of play of today's tennis. See AO2012.

[axel89]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

It's losing money because of the defensive style of play of today's tennis. See AO2012.

what the hell how does that have anything to do with this? are you trying to start a who's greater nadal or federer war?
On topic
I lost TTC like 2 years ago but i use espn 3 and lsh

[cc0509]

They are the worst with the worst commentators, they should be losing money imo. ESPN blows them away on every level.

[beast of mallorca]

They might not be able to afford playing 4 tournaments simultaneously. As such, only showing Doha for ATP and Brisbane for WTA.

[beast of mallorca]

Originally Posted by cc0509

They are the worst with the worst commentators, they should be losing money imo. ESPN blows them away on every level.

Unfortunately, tennis is not ESPN's priority. At most, they will show the SF/F of a Masters 1000. Better to have 1 or 2 tournaments in TTC than none at all.

[Hodgey20]

I hope not... I like some of their shows like best of five and tennisography. Have to agree that espn broadcasts are better mainly because of commentary

[Clarky21]

TC has far too many worthless shows such as Destination Tennis and Fit to Hit in 60. They also need to can Justin Gimelstob and get him off the air. More live tennis is something else they need to work on.

[Moose Malloy]

For what purpose is TTC airing tennis on delays?

There's no way to air Doha, Brisbane, Hopman Cup & Chennai all live at the same time since many of those matches at different events are being played at the same time. so some are live, some are on tape delay.

2 ladies Brisbane QF's were aired live yesterday, while there was live tennis going on at Hopman.

Ditto with Doha & some Hopman & Brisbane matches.

never ceases to amaze me what fans complain about. In the 90s, not one second of any of these events(nor the majority of all events on tour) was aired on US televison.

[Onehandedbackhand]

Originally Posted by Clarky21

TC has far too many worthless shows such as Destination Tennis and Fit to Hit in 60. They also need to can Justin Gimelstob and get him off the air. More live tennis is something else they need to work on.

Too many players need Fit to Hit badly.

[Clarky21]

Originally Posted by Onehandedbackhand

Too many players need Fit to Hit badly.

Ok then they need a new host. Danielle Whatsherface sucks.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

There's no way to air Doha, Brisbane, Hopman Cup & Chennai all live at the same time since many of those matches at different events are being played at the same time. so some are live, some are on tape delay.

2 ladies Brisbane QF's were aired live yesterday, while there was live tennis going on at Hopman.

Ditto with Doha & some Hopman & Brisbane matches.

never ceases to amaze me what fans complain about. In the 90s, not one second of any of these events(nor the majority of all events on tour) was aired on US televison.

exactly. If one really needs to watch all of these small tourneys then you could always buy Tennistv online. It's incredibly expensive to produce live TV. I'd suspect it's even more difficult to do that on TC's budget. Even if they aren't producing and licensing the video feed themselves, but rather paying for one from another country's broadcasting company. I suspect they do that a lot - esp with the European or Asian tourneys. Obviously their production budget is very slight, but the only thing that I'm somewhat surprised about is to why TC can't come to some sort of an agreement with one of the European broadcasting companies to where they'd exchange feeds from some American tourneys they produce for some of the smaller European or Asian tourneys that TC wouldn't ordinarily broadcast. Perhaps they can, but maybe they aren't making enough ad revenue/ratings wise on those smaller tourneys to cover their cost to pay for the video feed, and then pay to have a couple commentators in studio and then pay some PAs.

My only real complaint would be that I'd like to see some type of studio show. Something of a tennis equivalent of what one would see on say Baseball Tonight Even if just once a week on a Sunday night or something during a week where there isn't a bigger tourney. Some highlight and analysis type show. Just an alternative to the basic fluff stories that the ATP World Tour Uncovered show rolls out.

[GoodVibrations]

Don't know if they're in dire straits but I can tell you they play endless Garnier hair product commercials, I think they're like their one sponsor.

I don't know if this would help their financial situation, but I wish they'd axe all the programs no one watches and put the production money (all $100 of it, lol) towards one actually good original-programming show. I guess they try with Tennisography... anyway, I complain but I'd be sad if the channel went kaput.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by GoodVibrations

Don't know if they're in dire straits but I can tell you they play endless Garnier hair product commercials, I think they're like their one sponsor.

haha yeah that and that debt consolidation company that if you flip through the sports channels you can often see it running at the same time across Tennis Channel, NHL Network and MLB Network at exactly the same time during late afternoon. They must buy ad blocks across those channels at the same hour.

[tacou]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

There's no way to air Doha, Brisbane, Hopman Cup & Chennai all live at the same time since many of those matches at different events are being played at the same time. so some are live, some are on tape delay.

2 ladies Brisbane QF's were aired live yesterday, while there was live tennis going on at Hopman.

Ditto with Doha & some Hopman & Brisbane matches.

never ceases to amaze me what fans complain about. In the 90s, not one second of any of these events(nor the majority of all events on tour) was aired on US televison.

Time in Doha and Australia are not at all the same. Doha is live, while most of the AO tournaments are on delay for no reason. The mena's AO matches are not broadcast at all, and the Hopman Cup matches are being aired on select days, not at all on others.

I am loving the Doha coverage, but just concerned that the channel is relinquishing/exchanging live coverage instead of expanding. Considering I have around 5 ESPN channels in my sports package, it is not unrealistic too expect a tennis channel to air live tennis all day...if there is live tennis on all day.

[LaneMyer]

Originally Posted by tacou

Time in Doha and Australia are not at all the same. Doha is live, while most of the AO tournaments are on delay for no reason. The mena's AO matches are not broadcast at all, and the Hopman Cup matches are being aired on select days, not at all on others.

I am loving the Doha coverage, but just concerned that the channel is relinquishing/exchanging live coverage instead of expanding. Considering I have around 5 ESPN channels in my sports package, it is not unrealistic too expect a tennis channel to air live tennis all day...if there is live tennis on all day.

yes it is woefully unreasonable. Though not more so than comparing a giant corporation like ESPN to a small independently owned company like TC. For starters, ESPN has full cable clearance on basic packages. Until recently, only DirectTv offered full clearance. TC was being strong-armed by Comcast because Comcast owns both the Golf Channel and NBC Sports Channel/Versus. BTW neither of those channels banks revenue according to the Sports Business Journal. So with golf and hockey being more popular than tennis in the US you can easily discern TC isn't making any coin either. Do you really think ESPN makes any money off of tennis? No. It's there because they need programming to fill their networks. If it made money, A) a major wouldn't be on ESPN2 while ESPN shows reruns of Sportscenter...and B) it's coverage of it's other tourneys wouldn't often be on tape delay - getting bumped for women's college and pro basketball games.

So if the Sports Business Journal is to be believed, TC brought in around $100M last year.....aaaaannnd they didn't turn a profit.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...1cgOSNGPPK8zGK

Tennis Channel’s annual revenue is around $100 million and it is close to being profitable, insiders said.

Its (TC's) owners shopped the channel two to three years ago, but found no takers, in part because of its small distribution, sources said

now that that TC won it's lawsuit against Comcast for discrimination and what should entail a subsequent payoff, they should be able to sell it to one of the cable companies eventually. That could be good or bad programming wise. If a cable giant buys it for a vanity project and is willing to put money back into it, it will be good. If profitability is paramount then things will probably remain status quo. BTW fun fact. It appears both Agassi and Sampras are investors with TC.

[smoledman]

Originally Posted by DropShotArtist

It's losing money because of the defensive style of play of today's tennis. See AO2012.

Really? I was gripped to my seat for 6 riveting hours!

[Tennisguy3000]

$130 seems a little steep just for the tennis channel online... maybe that's why they are struggling. Then again if they had good broadcasting & lessons etc....

How much is it on a network tv package (or sports add on?)

https://secure.tennistv.com/buy

[marc45]

no, he's talking about tennis channel on tv not the on-line tennis tv...i think you're confused or maybe i just misread your post ( and 130 is way too much) ...haven't had tc since 11 us open..miss it badly, had it nearly since beginning...can't do satellite right now, so everything on-line with shaky streaming often or run over to mom's house nearby who has time warner who still carries...have complained numerous times to tc and my cable company to settle it...but it seems like it will never happen