Post by TennisHack on May 17, 2005 17:54:01 GMT -5
ESPN2, ESPN Classic Plans Record Roland Garros Coverage (link embedded)
By Tennis Week
05/17/2005
Roland Garros will reach American audiences as an instant classic. ESPN Classic will televise the French Open for the first time, offering live daily coverage from Paris starting at 5 a.m. Eastern time during the first week of the French fortnight. ESPN2 will also provide daily coverage throughout the French fortnight.
The 2005 Roland Garros begins on Monday. To view the Roland Garros Television schedule, please click this TV Schedule link. (link embedded)
ESPN2 and ESPN Classic's combined coverage schedule includes an unprecedented 109.5 hours from Roland Garros, including 80.5 hours of live coverage. Last year, ESPN networks scheduled 88 hours of coverage and aired a total of 99 hours of coverage from Roland Garros.
The network's decision to air its entire Australian Open coverage exclusively on ESPN2 — rather than bounce back and forth between ESPN and ESPN2 as it had done in prior years — paid dividends as ESPN2's live coverage of Serena Williams' 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the Australian Open final registered a 1.5 rating and was viewed in an average 1.35 million households making it ESPN2's highest-rated and most-viewed tennis telecast in history. Five of ESPN2's top six-rated telecasts in history occurred during the 2005 Australian Open.
Tennis fans tired of the network's propensity to air compelling matches on tape-delay in previous years. ESPN executives said the move to ESPN2 and ESPN Classic enables the network to televise more live tennis. It may also aid a ratings rise as fans won't have to channel surf to find the French Open.
"The move to ESPN2 — and utilizing ESPN Classic on weekday mornings — allows us to bolster our schedule to better serve tennis fans with what they crave: more live tennis," said Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president, programming and production. "In a very short time we have established ESPN2 as America's tennis destination network — The Grand Slam Network."
Planned highlights for the French fortnight include:
Multi-Emmy Award winner Dick Enberg, who completed his career Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January, will call his 19th French Open, along with Cliff Drysdale and Tim Ryan, analysts Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Shriver will also frequently be utilized as a roving reporter covering play in "outer courts" and the scene around the grounds of Roland Garros. Chris Fowler and Suzy Kolber will share on-site host duties. Also, Kit Hoover, seen over the last two years as a co-host on ESPN2's Cold Pizza and as a judge on Dream Job, will join the ESPN tennis team as a features reporter, focusing on topics off the court and around Paris.
ESPN Classic's presentations will be distinguished by an added emphasis on the great history at Roland Garros, with vignettes highlighting great moments in French Open history and excerpts from pertinent episodes of the Emmy Award-winning SportsCentury series.
By Tennis Week
05/17/2005
Roland Garros will reach American audiences as an instant classic. ESPN Classic will televise the French Open for the first time, offering live daily coverage from Paris starting at 5 a.m. Eastern time during the first week of the French fortnight. ESPN2 will also provide daily coverage throughout the French fortnight.
The 2005 Roland Garros begins on Monday. To view the Roland Garros Television schedule, please click this TV Schedule link. (link embedded)
ESPN2 and ESPN Classic's combined coverage schedule includes an unprecedented 109.5 hours from Roland Garros, including 80.5 hours of live coverage. Last year, ESPN networks scheduled 88 hours of coverage and aired a total of 99 hours of coverage from Roland Garros.
The network's decision to air its entire Australian Open coverage exclusively on ESPN2 — rather than bounce back and forth between ESPN and ESPN2 as it had done in prior years — paid dividends as ESPN2's live coverage of Serena Williams' 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the Australian Open final registered a 1.5 rating and was viewed in an average 1.35 million households making it ESPN2's highest-rated and most-viewed tennis telecast in history. Five of ESPN2's top six-rated telecasts in history occurred during the 2005 Australian Open.
Tennis fans tired of the network's propensity to air compelling matches on tape-delay in previous years. ESPN executives said the move to ESPN2 and ESPN Classic enables the network to televise more live tennis. It may also aid a ratings rise as fans won't have to channel surf to find the French Open.
"The move to ESPN2 — and utilizing ESPN Classic on weekday mornings — allows us to bolster our schedule to better serve tennis fans with what they crave: more live tennis," said Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president, programming and production. "In a very short time we have established ESPN2 as America's tennis destination network — The Grand Slam Network."
Planned highlights for the French fortnight include:
- Each weekday through the quarterfinals on Wednesday, June 1st, fans will be treated to at least nine hours of continuous live coverage.
- ESPN2 will televise both women's semifinals live Thursday, June 2nd and one men's semifinal Friday, June 3rd.
- A nightly highlights show (90 minutes or two hours) will be aired on ESPN2 for the first 12 days of the tournament, through Friday, June 3rd.
- The tournament will again conclude with one-hour SportsCenter at the French Open specials on ESPN2 immediately following NBC's coverage of the women's final on June 4th and the men's final on June 5th.
Multi-Emmy Award winner Dick Enberg, who completed his career Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January, will call his 19th French Open, along with Cliff Drysdale and Tim Ryan, analysts Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver. Shriver will also frequently be utilized as a roving reporter covering play in "outer courts" and the scene around the grounds of Roland Garros. Chris Fowler and Suzy Kolber will share on-site host duties. Also, Kit Hoover, seen over the last two years as a co-host on ESPN2's Cold Pizza and as a judge on Dream Job, will join the ESPN tennis team as a features reporter, focusing on topics off the court and around Paris.
ESPN Classic's presentations will be distinguished by an added emphasis on the great history at Roland Garros, with vignettes highlighting great moments in French Open history and excerpts from pertinent episodes of the Emmy Award-winning SportsCentury series.
that's 2 a.m. where I live...so I'll be taping the first hour or so