The Tennis Channel, USA’s premier tennis channel, has come under fire for poor broadcasting. After a tweet by tennis journalist and Naomi Osaka’s biographer Ben Rothenberg went viral, fans online are lashing out over the Tennis Channel. Complaints range from lags during matches to bad quality. On top of that, the subscription price for Tennis Channel is sky-high, making it worse.
Earlier in March 2024, Ben Rothenberg had taken to X to express his frustration on the issue during the Naomi Osaka vs Elina Svitolina match at the Miami Open 2024. Osaka won the match 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). But Rothenberg was fuming after the start of the second set.
“Tennis Channel streaming is a disaster,” wrote Rothenberg. He continued, “The Osaka-Svitolina stream is a full changeover + game behind. How does this happen? Never encountered another streaming service that offers lag quite so glacial.”
The root of the problem was a lag/buffer in the online service of Tennis Channel. Now, this can be annoying, especially during a live match. Although Rothenberg tagged the Tennis Channel in his tweet back, they haven’t responded yet. Now the biographer responded to Parrish’s tweet with another attack on the broadcaster.
The complaints have returned again at the Madrid Open 2024. Some experienced a similar lag in the Tommy Paul vs Francisco Cerundolo match, and others during the Jasmine Paolini vs Caroline Garcia match in the premier tournament in Spain. Most of these people, angry as they are, are threatening to cancel their subscriptions.
They are also upset that despite such a pricey subscription, Tennis Channel isn’t providing any value digitally. Therefore, fans would rather watch it on TV. Here are some views on the same –
“It’s god awful. Tennis TV app is much better, but it only has men’s.”
“Mine too! Unfortunately I don’t have other options available but it is awful. Mine glitches constantly and kicks me out , pixelates and is usually way behind. So frustrating”
The subscription price for the Tennis Channel is $109.99 per month, which is relatively high for the average American consumer. They also have the rights to broadcast almost all ATP and WTA tournaments throughout the year in the United States. As a result, the state of the sport in the country suffers in such situations, categorising it as a premium one with no value. This makes it tougher to tennis to survive in a market where the likes of basketball (NBA), baseball (NFL) and hockey (NHL) are thriving in the country.
Coco Gauff’s Coach Brad Gilbert Spoke About Tennis Channel Previously
A month-and-a-half ago, Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert spoke to CNBC about why tennis runs the risk of gaining less in revenues as compared to golf, and that they should take up the $2 billion offer by Saudi Arabia. In that, he also explained that Tennis Channel has a problem of not having a large cable subscription. Gilbert’s concern was that tennis players aren’t earning enough, and in that, he mentioned how the Tennis Channel not generating enough revenue also has a small role to play.
He was also upset that the CEO of ATP and WTA also represented the players, thereby, essentially preventing the players from raising their voices against anything. Since ATP and WTA have given their broadcasting rights of top tournaments to Tennis Channel exclusively, that might’ve been a good point of discussion.
This isn’t the first time viewers are upset by the tennis coverage in the US. At the 2023 US Open, ESPN suffered blackouts during matches. ESPN, owned by Disney, was covering the tournament then, and the consistent blackouts enraged fans all over. The cable operators conflicted over payment issues and this caused the problem. The viewership rating for the US Open 2023 went down significantly in the United States.
