Sinclair Broadcast Group has completed a $350 million deal for the Tennis Channel.
The channel carries matches from most of the world’s top tennis tournaments, as well as the digital SVoD Tennis Channel Plus.
Sinclair is one of the nation’s largest TV station owners, with 171 stations serving 81 markets reaching nearly 40 per cent of US TV households.
The Tennis Channel airs matches from all four Grand Slam tennis events, along with the ATP and WTA Tours, the Davis and Fed Cups, and a range of original programming. Despite this strong year-round selection of programming, it is currently running at an operating loss of $200 million, which Sinclair will believe it can turn around.
“Tennis Channel is an established property with high-quality content and advertisers, and is vastly under-compensated and under-distributed relative to the value it brings to its viewers,” said David Smith, Sinclair chief executive.
“It was the only independently-owned major sports network left, and we knew we could unlock value through a tuck-in acquisition.”
“The additional subscriber base, which has already been contracted, equates to the creation of approximately $200 million of incremental value at closing. We expect this combination to create additional linear and OTT viewership and advertising growth.”
