Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Tennis Channel: The Coming of Age for an Elitist Sport

Steve Bellamy: Founder of The Tennis Channel

It's been a six year wait for the Tennis Channel founded in 2003 by Steve Bellamy.

The TC is now into its second year broadcasting live from the US Open
in the 11AM to 7PM weekdays slot and now on weekend evenings.. It shares daytime coverage with ESPN II , which broadcasts live from 1PM -7PM.

The network claims to have broadcaster/analysts with over 31 Singles Championships among them.

You've come a long way in such a short time.

With some jockeying on my part, I can now access Channel 399, Cablevision in Connecticut, by paying $4.95 premium for a sports tier, a very, very modest sum compared to the $50 one day fee for a grounds pass to the US Open

But, it wasn't always that way.

About three years ago, I switched to ATT U-Verse which had no agreement with tennis channel, nor were they in any serious negotiations at the time.

A group of tennis diehards went online to publicize demands to AT&T. They never responded.

So last year, I switched to Cablevision which has a very attractive Optimum triple play package: high speed internet, telephone and TV/Tivo

Thanks to the relentless, passionate and aggressive Steve Bellamy founder and current president, Ken Solomon and the many investors who keep tennis streaming 24/7!
Image source (1)





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