Tennis Channel, Verizon FiOS TV Sign New Carriage Agreement

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Tennis Channel and Verizon FiOS TV have reached a new multiyear carriage agreement, it was announced by Patrick Wilson, senior vice president, distribution, Tennis Channel, and Terry Denson, vice president of global content strategy, Verizon.

Verizon has started rolling out Tennis Channel – with Grand Slam coverage of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, French Open and the Australian Open, as well as Davis Cup, Fed Cup, and the men's and women's year-end championships – to FiOS TV subscribers in time for its 2012 Australian Open coverage. The channel is now available in the Texas, Florida, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York FiOS TV markets and will be available in all other FiOS markets by Wednesday (Jan. 18).

From 2005 to this past September, Verizon FiOS TV carried Tennis Channel through its affiliation with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC).  When Tennis Channel and the NCTC entered into a new carriage agreement on Sept. 3, FiOS TV opted to work directly with Tennis Channel for its own licensing arrangement.  The result is a new, multiyear agreement that returns Tennis Channel to all FiOS TV customers who previously had access.  Starting immediately, Tennis Channel is available to FiOS TV customers who subscribe to the FiOS TV Ultimate HD package, as well as the premium Sports Packages. Verizon plans to more widely roll out Tennis Channel next year.

"We're thrilled to be able to offer Tennis Channel to our FiOS TV customers again," said Denson.  "Our customers have waited patiently for this channel to return to their TV screens, and we're happy to have it back.  This new direct carriage agreement with Tennis Channel means FiOS once again offers a daily viewing destination for tennis fans."

Wilson said, "We're happy to be back in front of Verizon subscribers.  "We couldn't be more pleased that Tennis Channel will be part of Verizon FiOS TV lineup and that more of their customers than ever will have the chance to watch."

Tennis Channel is the only single-sport network with coverage at all of its sport's top-level events.  In addition to tennis' four major, Grand Slam competitions, the network has telecast rights to just about every tournament on the men's and women's professional circuits.  Among these are the Olympus U.S. Open Series; ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events; "Fifth Slam" events in Miami and Indian Wells, Calif.; Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup; and the men's and women's season-ending championships.  Throughout the year, the network's on-air talent roster resembles a who's who of tennis Hall of Famers and television personalities, featuring Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Bud Collins, Bill Macatee, Mary Carillo and Ted Robinson.

Tennis Channel is part of Verizon's extensive FiOS offering, which includes a broad collection of programming on TV, with more than 540 all-digital channels including more than 140 HD channels, and 35,000 monthly video-on-demand titles.  FiOS also provides countless next-generation interactive services, including FiOS TV Online and Flex View, which extend FiOS TV Video on Demand beyond the home to the Internet and a range of mobile devices; an advanced interactive media guide; free interactive applications like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others; Media Manager, which allows customers to access on their TVs personal photos, music and videos from their computers; In-Home Agent, which assists customers in diagnosing and resolving a range of service issues; and the MY FiOS app, an easy-to-use mobile application that gives customers access to everything from movies, TV shows and personal content; to remote DVR access and control; to home and energy monitoring; to billing, account management and customer service tools.

About Verizon

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 107 million total connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $106.6 billion in 2010 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 195,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

About Tennis Channel

Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.  A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community.  It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Olympus US Open Series, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, top-tier WTA competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hyundai Hopman Cup.  Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 video providers.

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SOURCE Verizon