Tennis Channel to Offer Wall to Wall BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open Coverage
In March, Tennis Channel will offer more than 120 live hours from two of the largest events in tennis, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. With more matches than all other networks combined, the channel plans daylong telecast windows and early round-through-semifinal coverage at each 12-day tournament. In all, via encore replays, Tennis Channel viewers will have access to more than 325 hours of match coverage across both events, with the action underway Saturday, March 10, and continuing through Sunday, April 1.
In a month sports fans have come to know for its brackets, stunning upsets, on-court excellence and hour-after-hour of televised competition, Tennis Channel’s March schedule leaves few stones unturned. Coverage at Indian Wells begins Saturday, March 10, with 12 consecutive hours of men’s and women’s play, the first of five straight days of 12-hour telecasts en route to almost 75 live hours overall. Similar half-days are lined up for Miami starting Saturday, March 24, with a planned 50 live hours on the network’s tournament schedule (see complete schedules below). Within the sport, each event has been referred to as "The Fifth Slam," and both have tournament fields (brackets), prize packages and attendance figures topped only by tennis’ four majors: Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open.
Announcer Brett Haber, part of Tennis Channel’s most recent U.S. Open and Australian Open broadcast teams, will handle play-by-play responsibilities during the BNP Paribas Open, joined by analyst and network-majors mainstay Justin Gimelstob. Lindsay Davenport, who won two singles titles and six doubles crowns as a player at Indian Wells, will also provide insight, as will former doubles specialist Ashley Fisher.
Davenport and Gimelstob will be joined at the Sony Ericsson Open by veteran sportscaster Ted Robinson, who has appeared during multiple network tournament telecasts, among them the US Open, French Open and Davis Cup. Mary Carillo, who joined Tennis Channel in 2011 for its French Open and US Open coverage, will also appear in the Miami booth with Robinson March 26 and 27.
Young American player Sloane Stephens will post a periodic video blog on the network’s Web site, TennisChannel.com, during this year’s BNP Paribas Open, giving visitors an exclusive, off-court look at the action in the desert this spring. During both the Indian Wells and Miami events the Web site will offer interviews, features, live scores, daily highlights, tournament photos, news and blogs as well. Additionally, tennis fans can stay engaged with Tennis Channel on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tennischannel), Twitter (www.twitter.com/tennischannel) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/tennischannel).
Tennis Channel’s Live/First-Run 2012 BNP Paribas Open Schedule
|
Date
|
Time (ET)
|
Event
|
|
|
Saturday, March 10
|
2:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m.
|
Second Round
|
|
|
Sunday, March 11
|
2:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m.
|
Second Round, Third Round
|
|
|
Monday, March 12
|
2:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m.
|
Third Round
|
|
|
Tuesday, March 13
|
2:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m.
|
Third Round, Round of 16
|
|
|
Wednesday, March 14
|
2:00 p.m.- 2:00 a.m.
|
Round of 16, Women’s Quarterfinals
|
|
|
Thursday, March 15
|
2:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.;10:00 p.m.-midnight
|
Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals
|
|
|
Friday, March 16
|
6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.;
9:00 p.m.- 11:00 p.m.
|
Men’s Quarterfinal, Women’s Semifinal
|
|
|
Saturday, March 17
|
7:30 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.
|
Men’s Doubles Final
|
|
|
Sunday, March 18
|
6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.
|
Women’s Doubles Final
|
|
|
Tennis Channel will also offer encore replays of the men’s and women’s singles semifinals and finals:
|
|||
|
Saturday, March 17 – 2:00 a.m.- 4:00 a.m.; 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. (ET): women’s semifinals
|
|||
|
Sunday, March 18 – 12:00 a.m.- 4:00 a.m.; 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.; 8:00 p.m.-midnight (ET): men’s and women’s semifinals
Monday, March 19 – 12:00 a.m.- 4:00 a.m.; 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. (ET): women’s and men’s finals
|
|||
|
Tennis Channel’s Live 2012 Sony Ericsson Open Schedule
|
|||
|
(Men’s/Women’s Singles Unless Otherwise Specified)
|
|||
|
Date
|
Time (ET)
|
Event
|
|
|
Saturday, March 24
|
11:00 a.m.- 10:00 p.m.
|
Second Round, Third Round
|
|
|
Sunday, March 25
|
11:00 a.m.- 11:30 p.m.
|
Third Round
|
|
|
Monday, March 26
|
11:00 a.m.- 11:30 p.m.
|
Third Round, Round of 16
|
|
|
Tuesday, March 27
|
11:00 a.m.- 11:30 p.m.
|
Round of 16, Women’s Quarterfinals
|
|
|
Thursday, March 29
|
9:00 p.m.- 11:00 p.m.
|
Women’s Semifinal
|
|
|
Tennis Channel will also offer encore replays of the men’s and women’s singles semifinals:
|
|||
|
Thursday, March 29 – 11:00 p.m.- 1:00 a.m. (ET): women’s semifinal
Friday, March 30 – 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.; 10:00 p.m.- 12:00 a.m. (ET): women’s and men’s semifinals
|
|||
|
Saturday, March 31 – 12:00 a.m.- 4:00 a.m.; 6:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (ET): men’s and women’s semifinals
|
|||
