LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tennis
Channel has signed a wide-ranging, eight-year media rights
agreement with the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C., one of the largest
women's-only tennis tournaments in the world. Beginning in 2017,
the exclusive on-air and digital deal guarantees more exposure for
the tournament than ever before, with an increase in live
television hours nationally and expanded regional marketing
efforts. The network will also carry live matches on its digital
subscription service Tennis Channel Plus throughout the
tournament. As with high-profile tournaments like the French Open
and the BNP Paribas Open, Tennis Channel will have a studio desk on
the tournament grounds throughout the weeklong event. The
competition takes place April 3-9,
2017, at the Family Circle Tennis Center.
Covering the action first serve to last, Tennis Channel plans to
provide coverage of more than 130 hours of the Volvo Car Open
action in 2017. Tennis Channel Plus will offer 360 hours of
streaming coverage as well, with all on-air and digital competition
available on-demand. In addition to carrying the doubles final
live, the network will have a live daily lead-in show from its
tournament studio desk, akin to pre-contest programs like Tennis
Channel Live at the US Open.
"We always look for opportunities to tell as much of a
tournament's story as possible and the Volvo Car Open is one of the
rare events filled with players who annually make deep runs at the
Slams," said Ken Solomon, president,
Tennis Channel. "Every year, top players like Venus and Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, and Madison Keys make Charleston a key stop on their
calendar. Moreover, the event has a unique blend of rising young
Americans and international contenders who showcase the depth of
talent on the tour today."
Tennis Channel, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, one
of the largest television broadcasters, will work with local
Sinclair station WCIV-TV for marketing and other cross-promotional
opportunities. This is similar to Tennis Channel's approach at the
Citi Open in Washington, D.C.,
another tournament the network covers in its entirety. In its first
year, that partnership led to a five-percent increase in tournament
ticket sales and the largest crowd in a decade. Meredith
Corporation, Volvo Car Open's owner and a national media group with
magazines like Family Circle, SHAPE and Better Homes &
Gardens, will also work with Tennis Channel for
cross-promotional integration.
"This exciting new agreement will give us unprecedented levels
of coverage translating into hundreds of hours of content to
distribute and promote," said Bob
Moran, general manager of the Volvo Car Open. "Tennis
Channel has a very affluent and appealing viewership that aligns
well with our event and our sponsors. We basically now will have a
cable network dedicated to the Volvo Car Open and Charleston, South Carolina, for an entire
week. The ability to showcase every singles match played and, for
the first time ever, feature our doubles final through both linear
and digital mediums is what excites us the most."
The Volvo Car Open, formerly known as the Family Circle Cup, was
founded in 1973 and has a long history of showcasing the sport's
top players. Hall of Famers and other stars who have won the
championship include: Tennis Channel analysts Martina Navratilova
(1982-83, 1988 and 1990) and Tracy
Austin (1979-80), as well as Chris
Evert (1974-78, 1981 and 1984-85), Steffi Graf (1986-87, 1989 and 1993),
Venus Williams (2004) and
Serena Williams (2008 and
2012-13).
Because of the tournament's place in the annual tennis calendar,
the Volvo Car Open routinely plays host to both top-ranked stars
and rising young players in women's tennis. Scheduled immediately
after the Miami Open – a "fifth major" destination participated in
by players from around the world – the Charleston event draws a mix
of international and U.S. players. The 2016 tournament field
included Americans Venus Williams,
Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens, along with 2016 Australian Open
champion Angelique Kerber, who later
won the US Open and is currently the World No. 1 singles player.
Stephens won the event, marking her fourth title.
Tennis Channel (www.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, ATP World Tour events, WTA competitions, Davis
Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of
the top 10 video providers.
About Volvo Car Open
The Volvo Car Open is the largest
women's only tennis tournament in the
United States. The event, formerly known as the Family
Circle Cup, moved to Charleston,
S.C., in 2001 from Hilton Head
Island, S.C., and will celebrate its 45th
anniversary in 2017. The Volvo Car Open welcomes more than 90,000
spectators each year. The tournament features a singles draw of 56
players, a qualifying draw of 32 players and a doubles draw of 16
players. The tournament is owned and operated by Charleston Tennis, LLC, a subsidiary of Meredith
Corporation, publisher of Family Circle. For more
information on the Volvo Car Open, visit
http://www.VolvoCarOpen.com, call (800) 677-2293, email
info@volvocaropen.com, Facebook (Volvo Car Open), Twitter
(@VolvoCarOpen) or Instagram (VolvoCarOpen).
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 482 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 www.sbgi.net.
About Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
(NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) has been
committed to service journalism for 115 years. Today, Meredith uses
multiple distribution platforms – including broadcast television,
print, digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with
content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising
and marketing partners.
Meredith's National Media Group reaches more than 100 million
unduplicated women every month, including nearly 75 percent of U.S.
Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and
distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest
areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known
brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes,
Parents, Shape and EatingWell.
Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities,
including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart
stores across the U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is an
award-winning, strategic and creative agency that provides fully
integrated marketing solutions for many of the world's top brands,
including Kraft, Lowe's, TGI Friday's and NBC Universal.
Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated
television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households.
Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing
markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 – including
Atlanta, Phoenix, St.
Louis and Portland – and 13
in Top 50 markets. Meredith's stations produce over 660 hours of
local news and entertainment content each week, and operate leading
local digital destinations.
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SOURCE Tennis Channel