Some Tennis Channel viewers may get "dirty" watching the network's coverage of the French Open.
The dedicated tennis service will offer 20 hours of 3D coverage from Roland Garros from May 28-30, meaning some subscribers could get the sense that the red clay is kicking up from their TV screens. In becoming the second U.S. network to offer 3D coverage of the sport, Tennis will provide 20 hours from the French Open's main court, Philippe Chatrier, over Memorial Day weekend to subscribers of Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse. Deal terms were not disclosed.
In 2010, CBS provided 3D coverage from the U.S. Open, which was made available to a number of distributors.
"Tennis Channel prides itself on bringing this sport to our viewers through state-of-the-art broadcast quality that's second to none," said Larry Meyers, executive producer and senior vice president, production, Tennis Channel, in a statement. "In keeping with this, we're happy to work with AT&T U-verse, Comcast and DirecTV to be the first network to offer the French Open to U.S. audiences in 3-D. We always say we want viewers to feel like they're actually in Paris at the French Open when they tune into Tennis Channel, and the images of red clay flying through their televisions at them in 3-D this year will only add to this effort."
For those not 3D-equipped to get up and close personal with the spraying terra battue, Tennis, during its fifth year of coverage from Paris, will present more than 75 hours of live or first-run matches to viewers, plus another dozen hours of men's and women's semifinal same-day encores, in the high-definition format.Tennis will carry at least seven live hours a day for the first nine days of the competition, with coverage beginning at 5 a.m. (ET)
French Open Tonight, hosted by Bill Macatee, will return to Roland Garros each evening for three-and-half hours of highlights, interviews, analysis and special reports from the tournament grounds and Paris at large. Typically running from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., the show's set will again be perched above the French Open's Musketeer Plaza, right in the heart of the crowd. Each night at its conclusion, French Open Tonight encores twice in its entirety throughout the night into early morning and start of the next day's coverage of live matches. All told, Tennis will produce 42 hours of French Open Tonight this year, with 139 overall hours dedicated to the show during the two-week competition.
ESPN2 will also supply expansive coverage of the Grand Slam event, with NBC offering its "café and croissant" coverage of the marquee matches.
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