Tennis Channel Confirms Planned Direct-to-Consumer Launch in 2024

Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest telecommunications conglomerates in the world, held its annual Investor Day on Monday. The event included a conference call in which financial analysts were able to question Sinclair executives about their upcoming plans. One item confirmed for a future launch was a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service dedicated to the Tennis Channel.

“We do expect to have a direct-to-consumer product ready for Tennis Channel in 2024,” Sinclair president and CEO Christopher Ripley. “It’s a ways out, so pricing details, things like that are not yet available.”

The possibility of such a product was first raised by Ripley in Sinclair’s second-quarter earnings report, released in August. At that time, Ripley said, “At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will have a direct-to-consumer strategy for here in the U.S. for the main product on Tennis Channel. We couldn’t be more excited about Tennis Channel in terms of its future.”

Ripley noted in the Oct. 3 call that customers were already getting access to a streaming tennis product via Tennis Channel Plus ($109 for an annual subscription), but noted that premium matches do not currently appear on that platform, as they are reserved for the linear cable channel. Ripley promised that would change when the new Tennis Channel service debuts in 2024.

Tennis Channel president Kenneth Solomon also spoke about future plans for the channel and its streaming service.

“We have been waiting for plenty [of] years to be able to offer Tennis Channel directly to consumers,” Solomon said. “So about 40% now of that cord cutting/cord-never universe, or a universe that we just never got to because our ascension was sort of coinciding with the softening and the, let’s call it, the rightsizing of the MVPD universe. We’ve got the 60% [of linear viewers], the 40% will be opened up at the beginning of 2024.”

Solomon also spoke about the success of the company’s free ad-supported TV (FAST) tennis channel T2. The channel launched in the United States in March, and now reaches 35 million homes. Solomon expects the channel to grow even further after Sinclair’s exclusivity deal with Samsung expires in February and T2 is distributed more widely.

“We have a tough time picking what’s going to get on Tennis Channel alone,” he said. “And the chance to be able to have a full linear second channel to then roundtrip audiences back and forth to with Tennis Channel is very exciting.”