US CABLE NETWORK COULD BECOME MAJOR PLAYER
The Tennis Channel buys Scottsdale:
Says major cable or satellite is coming
IMG unloads another tournament: Is Palo Alto next?

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

While discussing The Tennis Channel's purchase of next week's Scottsdale's men's tournament, TTC CEO Steve Bellamy tipped his hand that in the near future, the fledgling TV outfit will announce that it has nailed a big deal with the likes of cable giant Comcast or a huge satellite provider like DirecTV.

"The people who cannot get The Tennis Channel will be in the absolute minority very shortly," Bellamy said. "Our distribution, capacity and ability for the standard fan to get The Tennis Channel is going to go up tremendously in the very near future. These deals are very large and very sensitive, but that should tell you a lot. And right now, believe it or not, The Tennis Channel is in some part of 19 of the top 20 markets in America. We're in 236 markets. We're in 2,900 communities. We're carried by 34 different cable and satellite companies."

The fact is that many tennis fans all over the US can't get the TTC unless they want to pony up huge dollars to struggling satellite companies like VOOM. Comcast is the nation's biggest cable outfit, broadcasting in 21.5 million homes and owns near monopolies in San Francisco, Chicago and Oakland, among other places. DirectTV is flooding the California market with promotions in attempt to become the prominent satellite provider. Knocking down deals with either of those two companies would be a boon for TTC.

Bellamy says not to fret and to be hopeful that the TTC will soon be in as many living rooms as other one-sport stations, like the Golf Channel. That's terrific news for US fans who like to watch the big European clay court warm-ups to Roland Garros and were shut out of viewing those last year. Moreover, TTC's programming has vastly improved over the last year. Shows like Center Court, No Strings and Open Access are interesting and professionally produced. The network's graphics shine with creativity and energy. Unlike some other outlets, they make a concerted effort to make the sport more enticing to watch.

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"I want is tennis to sound better," Bellamy said. "If you watch the NBA or NFL, you hear every nuance of every shoulder pad click, of every shoe squeak. Tennis is an enormously physical sport and you got it miked from 100 feet away. We want to try a lot of different camera angles that brings the viewer onto the court. … I want to publicize the entourage. I want you to know who [the player's] mom is, who his girlfriend is. I want to see more girlfriend reactions and understand the pain and the anguish that she is feeling. I want to know what the coach is whispering to the guys next to them. All of these things really bring you deeper into the sport and understand all the things that go on."

Here's the first great thing for US fans about The Tennis Channel buying the Scottsdale men's tournament from IMG: The mega-agency didn't sell it to some oil-rich nation. Here's the second thing: Bellamy seems interested in bringing back women's tennis to Scottsdale and if TTC has deep enough pockets, there's no reason that a Tier III or IV can't be played simultaneously with the men's. ([IMG sold the Scottsdale women's tournament to Dubai two years ago for a very pretty penny.)

Moreover, you can bet a decent-sized quarter that Bellamy and company will pony up for at least a couple stars players in 2006, and the CEO has a good enough relationship with numerous players to be able to coax them into coming without a huge guarantee being placed before them. It will be tough for TTC to compete with Dubai, which is reportedly paying the likes of Andre Agassi and Roger Federer $500,000 each to play next week, but Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt could be enticed back to Scottsdale for a decent sum and a few other amenities.

"We want to bring every big player that we can to come there," Bellamy said. "And we are going to make this event something the player's want to go to. Ten years ago, 15 years ago, Indianapolis was something that if you brought your mom, she was going shopping. If you brought your dad, there was going some tennis thing for him to do or a golf outing. You had to put that on your calendar. We want to do a lot of that stuff and we have the resources there to do that. In terms of, 'Are we going to start writing giant checks and try to get huge guarantees?' That's not what we're hoping to do by any stretch of the imagination. We want to get great players to love that event."

Two more questions that the sale brings up:
1. Did cash actually exchange hands, or did IMG, which is an investor in TTC, take more of an equity position?
2. Is IMG ready to completely disassociate itself with tournament tennis in the American West? In the past two years, they have sold three tournaments (both Scottsdale events and Manhattan Beach). They still own half of Indian Wells, but it's an open secret that they are trying to unload at least part of their share. They own the women's Bank of the West Classic in Palo Alto, a longtime successful tournament in an upscale market, but Gus Sampras (Pete's older brother) is the tournament director there, just like is in Scottsdale. Are they also pretty-ing up that "asset" for a sale?

"IMG owned a bunch of tournaments in a similar geographical area and they got a couple incredible offers for those tournaments," Bellamy said. "One was the women's event in Scottsdale, and one was Manhattan Beach which moved to Carson [and was sold to entertainment giant AEG]. It kind of made [the Scottsdale men's tournament] out there in 'no man's land.' They were at a point in time where they had just changed ownership and they were interested in getting rid of some assets that were tougher to manage."