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Coming to cable.
The game's the thing, one with a vast fan base
By Gabriel Spitzer
For the Tennis Channel, the name says it all.
In the midst of an ad slump, crowded cable space and declining ratings for sports, the embryonic cable network is keeping its focus on one thing: tennis.
"The Tennis Channel will be an identifiable brand. You’ll know exactly what it is," says chief executive officer David Meister.
"That’s not always the case with other networks and brands. Take some of the dot.coms in recent years. Hmmm, RedSquid.com. Sounds great, but I have no idea what it is."
Set to launch in mid-2002, the Tennis Channel has its identity nailed down, and its loose ends are beginning to come together.
The network is wrapping up negotiations with all the major tennis tours and associations, as well as with advertisers and sponsors. Within days, the network will begin talks with satellite and cable providers to develop carriage deals.
It might seem that the Tennis Channel has picked an unenviable time to launch, but Meister certainly doesn’t see it that way.
"I can’t think of a better time to start than when the marketplace is low, because it will rise as we do. Imagine if we had started a few years ago, and then just as we were hitting our stride, the marketplace bottomed out," says Meister.
"I think we’re in fabulous shape in that sense, because our first year we’ll have far less support anyway. People will become more enthusiastic as they see our programming and our distribution start to grow."
The network’s programming will focus on three distinct areas: on-court play, instructional programming and lifestyle programs that delve into the game’s personalities.
The rights to most high-profile tennis events are already owned by the broadcast networks and established cable entities, leaving mostly the less-publicized matches for the Tennis Channel.
But the Tennis Channel sees itself as more of a companion than a competitor to the high-profile telecasts.
"We envision having a lot of the early-round tournament coverage. We’ll have wall-to-wall coverage, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., when you’re seeing all the players in the field. Then on the weekend, the bigger networks would carry the semifinals and the finals," says Steve Bellamy, president of the Tennis Channel.
According to Bellamy, a former tennis player, coach and promoter, hard-core tennis fans are thirsting for this sort of round-the-clock coverage.
"For the tennis-phile, the early rounds have always been more important than the later rounds. Every major player plays at the beginning. You see more exciting matches at the beginning than at the end," Bellamy says.
"In the early parts, a lot of the players are playing for lunch money, or they’re playing for their big break. That’s when the really compelling tennis takes place."
Meister, for his part, comes to the Tennis Channel with a lengthy résumé, which includes eight years running HBO Sports and stints heading up the Financial News Network and Major League Baseball’s broadcasting operation.
Meister also launched Cinemax and the Sundance Channel.
"My history is about building and growing early-stage cable companies. I come out of the advertising-agency community, a sports-rights environment, and I’ve won awards for programming. I look at all that experience, and say, that surely leads to what we’re doing here," Meister says.
As the resident TV veteran, Meister is mapping out the new network’s ad sales strategy.
To begin with, Meister argues that the potential audience for the Tennis Channel is much larger than many might expect.
"If you add together all the people who have watched tennis in the past year, those who have played tennis, those who read tennis magazines and those who own tennis equipment, you get 66 million unduplicated Americans. That’s one out of three adults," says Meister.
"That’s a huge audience for a niche network. And these people tend to be upscale and highly desirable to the advertising community."
In addition to courting the roster of advertisers already invested in tennis, Meister points to several audience segments that he believes will bring in other breeds of advertisers.
"The tennis tournaments will be available during the day throughout the week. This is relevant because half of those Americans who play tennis are women. And those are the people watching at that time too," says Meister.
"We’ll be able to deliver upscale women who are active, and who would not otherwise be watching much TV. That has value."
Meister also hopes to capitalize on the star power of some of the sport’s most popular athletes.
"Look at the sports marketing personalities: No. 4 is Anna Kournikova, and No. 6 is Andre Agassi. There’s an audience that looks at these players as glamorous stars, which they are," he says.
"A very strong 12-34 audience can be reached in the late afternoons and early evenings. So snack foods, soft drinks and even movies become very interested. That’s all in addition to the typical sports advertisers, and the traditional upscale brands, both of which have been responsive to tennis in the past."
August 3, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Gabriel Spitzer is a staff writer for Media Life.
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