LOS ANGELES, August 9, 2023 – Tennis Channel will launch a 24-hour television network in Spain, home of all-time great Rafael Nadal and young World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, on Wednesday, August 9. The channel will be available on Samsung TV Plus and offer content tailored to tennis fans in the country. Spain will be the eighth nation outside of the United States with access to Tennis Channel content.
“We’re very excited to introduce Tennis Channel to Spain, one of the world’s truly most important tennis countries,” said Andy Reif, senior vice president, Tennis Channel International. “Spanish tennis fans are passionate about the sport and their national stars – with good reason given all they’ve accomplished on court historically and in recent years. We believe they’re going to tune in to a channel solely devoted to the great sport of tennis, especially a channel produced and programmed specifically for Spanish tennis fans.”
Tennis Channel Spain will offer live matches and features on Spanish professional tennis players present and past. As with Tennis Channel in other markets around the world, the Spanish edition will provide localized programming as well as the original content that the network is known for worldwide. In addition to live men’s and women’s tennis throughout the year, Tennis Channel Spain will show special events like the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, the fast-paced, innovative series created by Serena Williams’ longtime coach Patrick Mouratoglou. UTS matches use unique rules, eight-minute quarters and Sudden Death tiebreakers to attract young fans and keep things moving, with players encouraged to express themselves in a way not usually seen in tennis.
Spain has long been a hotbed of tennis. Its men’s national team is an annual contender in the Davis Cup battle for the world’s best and it is home to several of the sport’s premier players and most important tournaments. Nadal, the first man to 22 major singles titles, is one of the greatest players of all time. His record 14 French Open singles championships and 63 clay-court trophies have solidified him as the best player ever on that surface in the minds of many. His countryman Alcaraz appears more than ready to take the baton, having become the youngest World No. 1 in
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men’s tennis history at age 19 in September. He won the 2022 US Open and last month added Wimbledon, the first two major championships on what tennis aficionados expect to be a long list before he stops playing. Spain’s Garbine Muguruza has also held the World No. 1 singles ranking on the ladies’ side and took home the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon crowns. Paula Badosa is another of the country’s strongest players. She has reached the No. 2 singles ranking and in 2021 won the BNP Paribas Open, often referred to as the fifth major.
Spain is also home to springtime tournaments in Barcelona and Madrid, two important events on the road to Roland Garros, commonly known as the French Open.
The network plans to expand Tennis Channel Spain in the next year to include a subscription streaming service. Tennis Channel is working with the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation, the sport’s governing body in the country, to grow the sport through the new channel and other content initiatives.
Tennis Channel International debuted in 2020 with a German-focused channel in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Since then it has launched in Greece, India, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In 2022 Tennis Channel became the exclusive media home of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and the tour’s primary home in the Netherlands.
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Tennis Channel(www.tennischannel.com) which is owned by Sinclair Inc., is the only television-based multiplatform destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. The network has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television in one of the world’s most voluminous sports, with multiple men’s and women’s tournaments and singles, doubles and mixed competition throughout the year. Tennis Channel has rights at the four majors – US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and Australian Open – and is the exclusive U.S. home of all men’s ATP World Tour and women’s WTA Tour competitions, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, and Laver Cup. Direct-to-consumer streaming service Tennis Channel Plusis available to everyone in the United States and allows subscribers to select from another 4,500 live and on-demand matches and award-winning content from short-
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form to films throughout the tennis season. Tennis Channel Internationalbrings live competition and network content to markets in Europe and Asia via digital subscription and free ad-supported streamingTV (FAST) channels.Additional platform www.tennis.com is the largest digital outlet dedicated to the sport. Tennis Channel also manages a network of close to 20 podcasts.
About Sinclair, Inc.
Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets affiliated with all the major broadcast networks; owns Tennis Channel and multicast networks Comet, CHARGE! and TBD; and owns and provides services to 21 regional sports network brands. Sinclair’s content is delivered via multiple platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and the nation’s largest streaming aggregator of local news content, NewsON. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed atwww.sbgi.net.
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For further information:
Eric Abner, Tennis Channel, 310-314-9445, eabner@tennischannel.com, @TennisChannelPR