Tennis Channel and the Carvana Professional Pickleball Association have served up a new streaming service dedicated to the emerging paddle sport.
The service, Pickleballtv (PBTV), launched this week on Amazon Freevee and FuboTV with a lineup that will feature more than 30 top-level live PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball team events, as well as original programming and a weekly studio show, according to Tennis Channel officials. On tap during launch week is coverage of the PPA Tour National Championships in Dallas.
The launch comes on the heels of a September joint venture between the two parties through which Sinclair-owned Tennis Channel will produce all PPA Tour events for the PPA Tour and that gives the network distribution rights to live matches.
“Tennis Channel and the PPA Tour are doing something that hasn’t been done before — taking a fast-growing sport in its infancy and attaching an experienced, state-of-the-art media arm to its development in the form of Pickleballtv,” Tennis Channel president Ken Solomon said in a statement. “We have no doubt that 24/7, consistent, daily coverage of the best players, events and news on a dedicated pickleball channel will generate new fans and give existing ones a place to call home, thus expanding the sport’s overall reach and global popularity."
PPA Tour founder and CEO Connor Pardoe added: “The PPA Tour has worked in lockstep with Tennis Channel, and we’re proud to launch Pickleballtv coinciding with the largest tournament in pickleball history.”
