Cablevision has announced it will add the Tennis Channel to its iO Sports Pak service. The channel will be available in both standard and high-definition as soon as the broadcast signal is provided to Cablevision.
The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) and the Tennis Channel already have a distribution agreement. Cablevision, who is a member of the NCTC, hopes to have the channel running for the U.S. Open which starts on Aug. 31. (Qualifying matches started today.)
“We think this is a great solution that will allow New York tennis fans to see the Tennis Channel’s coverage of the U.S. Open,” said John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s senior vice president of product management.
The Tennis Channel will be available on Cablevision’s Sports Pak channels 399 (Standard definition) and 795 (High Definition).
Women in this week’s U.S. Open qualifying matches include Kimiko Date Krumm, Ekaterina Ivanova, Nicole Vaidisova, Yung-Jan Chan, Lauren Embree, Sandra Zahlavova, Stephanie Gehrlein, and Shenay Perry. Men include Horacio Zeballos, Xavier Malisse, Roko Karanusic, Michael Russell, David Guez, Michael Berrer, Jose Checa-Calvo, Carsten Ball, Diego Alvarez and Lukasz Kubot.
Another Update Sep. 11:
TENNIS CHANNEL STATEMENT REGARDING REPORTED LAUNCH OF
MULTIPLE SYSTEM OPERATOR CABLEVISION’S MSG VARSITY NETWORK
We were surprised to read of Cablevision’s announcement of the planned broad launch of MSG Varsity, a new sports network it wholly owns. If these reports prove true it would represent the second new network this top-five cable operator owns to which it has afforded nearly full distribution in recent weeks. Tennis Channel has negotiated for more than four years to bring the world’s best tennis to a New York audience of that size, but Cablevision has awarded that opportunity to a nascent and untried concept simply because it owns the network. We at Tennis Channel certainly have great respect for high school sports as well. But with telecast rights to all four Grand Slams – including the US Open – among 70 other tournaments worldwide, thousands of hours of live HD coverage and ratings competitive with many of cable’s biggest networks, it is disappointing that the sole criterion we lack for expanded carriage is ownership by Cablevision. Cablevision subscribers who enjoy tennis should insist on an explanation for how MSG Varsity, with no history of ratings or advertising commitments and a reported schedule of largely taped events, will receive widespread distribution to all of Cablevision’s three-plus million customers while Cablevision insists that Tennis Channel be available only on a limited tier serving less than five percent of its total subscriber base.
The tennis channel number on Time Warner is a well kept secret.
UPDATE: Cablevision and Tennis Channel seem to be still at odds. Here is a statement released from Tennis Channel:
TENNIS CHANNEL STATEMENT REGARDING CABLEVISION AND THE US OPEN
Cablevision has taken a step that raises serious problems for all cable programmers. We are sorting out these issues and will decide what steps to take when we are ready to do so. They are too important to the future of cable programming to be governed by the immediacy of the US Open, as much as we would like to help people see it. Cablevision’s decision to wait until just before the US Open began to demand carriage under the NCTC agreement makes it responsible for this situation; it could have given us notice of its intention to do so well before now, so that the questions could have been addressed and resolved in advance.
GOOD JOB NY TENNIS FANS! You guys rock.
Cablevision was completely unwilling to add this channel, but because you all stood up and said enough was enough they finally backed down and added it.
Of course lets not forget how ridiculous Cablevision was throughout this whole process, and how unwilling the company was to provide us with good customer service. I still recommend switching to another carrier, but for those of you who only have the option of Cablevision, let me congratulate you.
its too bad it wasnt running for the qualifying matches. sometimes those are better than the actual matches. does anyone actually have it yet with Cablevision?