Tennis Channel today announced an eight-year media rights agreement with the WTA Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C., beginning in '17. The deal calls for an increase in live television hours nationally and expanded regional marketing efforts. Tennis Channel will carry live matches on Tennis Channel Plus throughout the tournament, and will also have a studio desk on the tournament grounds throughout the weeklong event (THE DAILY). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan notes the event, the largest stand-alone WTA Tour stop in North America, is "leaving ESPN after 15 years." Tennis Channel "plans a first-ball-to-last-one coverage, dedicating 55 live hours and more than double that for replay." It is a "similar strategy Tennis Channel employed in luring" the DC-based Citi Open away from ESPN two years ago (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/26 issue). In South Carolina, Jeff Hartsell writes the agreement is a "big bump from the seven hours of coverage the Volvo Car Open got on ESPN" in '16. Volvo Car Open GM & Tournament Dir Bob Moran said, "It's the entire week, and that's what we have to be able to do -- to create content, create more impressions for our partners and sponsors and be able to deliver that much more to our partners and fans." Moran said that ESPN "wanted to continue its relationship" with the event, but the Tennis Channel offer was "more attractive -- especially after Sinclair Broadcast Group bought Tennis Channel last year, dramatically boosting the number of households reached" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 9/26).
