As BNP Paribas Open evolves, so does Tennis Channel's coverage of the Palm Springs-area event
Imagine one of the networks that covers the Super Bowl having to cover the playing of the game not for three hours, but for two weeks.
That’s about how Ken Solomon, the chief executive officer of Tennis Channel, sees his network’s coverage of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
“The BNP Paribas Open and kind of Roland Garros in a lot of ways, because it was our first Grand Slam that we ever covered, those two are kind of very, very special to us, let’s just say,” Solomon said. “And the BNP in particular.”
For Solomon, a 1979 graduate from Palm Springs High School who was a ball kid at the desert tournament in its earliest days, the desert and the BNP Paribas Open hold an important personal spot as he oversees the coverage of the event for Tennis Channel.
Approaching the 20-year anniversary for when it first launched on May 15, 2003, Tennis Channel now has more than 60 million subscribers and has extended coverage to Bally Sports Network and its own streaming services. And just like coverage of Super Bowl week, the BNP Paribas Open becomes the central focus of Tennis Channel each year for two weeks in March, to the exclusion of anything else.
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“In some ways, it is all year long,” Solomon said. “There is no doubt we pull out all the stops. We put more resources into this than any event.”
That coverage begins on the Wednesday of the first week when the main draw starts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and extends to 115 hours of live tennis. Encores of matches are played throughout the night, making the Tennis Channel, in essence, a 24-hour-a-day BNP Paribas Open channel for two weeks.
Solomon makes no apologies for the focus on the desert tournament.
“It is the largest tournament in the world, and the most advanced in many ways,” Solomon said. “We love all of our children equally and all of our partners, but you can’t argue with the fact that (Stadium 1) is the second-largest tennis stadium in the world, or that Stadium 2 is one of the most gorgeous courts on the planet.”
Top analysts, lots of hours
The resources Tennis Channel is using at Indian Wells include a roster of top analysts and former BNP Paribas winners and runner-ups, including Jim Courier, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, Pam Shriver and Andy Roddick. Coverage of the matches include day matches as well as the full slate of night matches.
Those analysts and commentators work not only from a broadcast booth, but from a full television studio located in Stadium 1 of the tennis garden.
Solomon said Tennis Channel’s coverage of the BNP Paribas Open has grown and evolved as the event and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden have grown and evolved, meaning the network has taken some inspiration from event owner Larry Ellison. Solomon likes the story of Ellison being presented a timeframe of five years for the construction of a new Stadium 2, then telling everyone he wanted it finished in nine months. The stadium was ready for the following year’s tournament.
“We all have a sense of urgency, because history happens at the BNP Paribas Open. Every single minute, magic happens,” Solomon said. “We need to get it recorded in our way and the story told in our way and then put it out to people to make it easier for them to enjoy.
“Whatever it is, the sooner we can do it the quicker we can realize the potential of what is really the greatest tournament in the world,” Solomon added. “That’s our job, but more importantly it’s our passion.”
If Ellison is being innovative at the tennis garden, Solomon said Tennis Channel has tried to be equal innovative in its coverage. That includes Tennis Channel, secondary channel T2, podcasting and streaming content on Tennis Channel Plus.
“We were the first to do (high definition) because we wanted people to see it,” he said. “We couldn’t sell a commercial just because it was in high definition. It was that by having high definition you could see the emotions of the player and the rotation on the ball, and it made it that much more engaging.”
Solomon added that the BNP Paribas Open almost demands a 24-hour coverage cycle because of what the tournament has become, what he calls the fifth Grand Slam, though he admits that’s not an actual term.
“A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam, right, and they can rely on the history. Not to take anything away from them, believe me, but everyone knows the U.S. Open and everyone knows Wimbledon and the French, Roland Garros,” Solomon said. “But to have a place like that doing whatever it is going to be, a half a million people (attending), who knows what it could do. No one has any idea. So we are here with them. We felt everything we’ve added (is) to try and open it up to the whole world, not just people in the region, certainly not just people in the valley, that as a cultural experience it is just a blast.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Tennis Channel devoted to covering "greatest tournament in the world"
