By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Photo credit: Fred Mullane for Tennis Channel Facebook

Tennis Channel has turned to a familiar face as its new leader.

Bill Simon has been named TC Interim President, Tennis Channel announced today.

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Simon joined the network as CFO in 2005 and has served a variety of executive Tennis Channel roles in recent years.

Here is Tennis Channel's announcement issued this afternoon:

Sinclair, Inc. has named Tennis Channel’s Bill Simon as the network’s interim president. Simon has been in a top leadership role since joining the channel as CFO in 2005, in recent years serving as EVP, COO and CFO. He has been directly involved in the key decisions that have guided the network during the past two decades and will oversee all aspects of its business.

Simon takes over about three weeks after TC's parent company, Sinclair, axed long-time CEO Ken Solomon.

Sinclair ousted Solomon over his role as an advisory board member for Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media company, according to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month.

The Journal reported Sinclair execs saw Solomon's work with Dr. Phil's new media company as "a growing distraction." 

Meanwhile, sources close to Solomon claim he served similar roles as advisory board members throughout his TC tenure and it was not an issue until Sinclair began looking for a cause to make a move.

Tennis Channel grew its audience during Solomon's tenure, though it has not been profitable since its inception under founder Steve Bellamy.

Reports say media giant Sinclair has been trying to unload Tennis Channel and ousting Solomon may well have been part of its streamlining process in preparation for a sale.

However, in an interview with interview with SportsBusiness Journal Sinclair COO Rob Weisbord downplayed Ken Solomon's role over the past 18 months saying Simon and an executive team has been running day-to-day TC operations while Solomon was "the spokesperson for the network."

Weisbord told SportsBusiness Journal that while Solomon was "the face of the network" an executive team was actually running the network. Weisbord said a senior management team of Simon, Senior Vice President of Production Bob Whyley, Senior Vice President David Edges, Senior Vice President International Programming Andy Reif, Senior Vice President National Sports Sales Irv Schulman and Vice President of Marketing Christina Tesauro has been running the network, suggesting Solomon's role was diminished over the past year-and-a-half.

“When Sinclair is writing a check for an employee, we expect 100% of the focus to be on what we're paying them to be and not have multiple focuses,” said Weisbord. “We need to focus on the assets that we own.

"Ken certainly was the face of Tennis Channel, but it takes a village to run a network.”

Sinclair COO Weisbord also told SportsBusiness Journal that the company has "never publicly stated" Tennis Channel is for sale.

Despite that statement, it has been reported that Sinclair is seeking to sell TC, which launched its PickleballTV last year in an effort to capitalize on pickleball's domestic growth. 

“We had some inbound inquiries. If we can get accreted value for any asset, we’re always open to look at it,” said Weisbord. “Right now, we’re focused not a sale—if that happens, great—but we're focused that we own this operation and that we truly are bullish on the expansion of tennis.” 

Weisbord also points out that Tennis Channel International is now available in eight nations and Sinclair sees that as a source of potential international growth, though none of those eight markets are as large as the United States.  

Back in 2016 Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired Tennis Channel for $350 million.

Three months before that 2016 sale, The Wall Street Journal reported former Tennis Channel majority owners Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, CCMP Capital and Columbia Capital, were in sales talks with Sinclair with an asking price "north of $500 million."

While the final sales price was well short of that, Sinclair provided Tennis Channel with a significantly larger media platform.

When Sinclair bought TC, execs envisioned the added exposure and branding opportunities across multiple platforms creating increased ad revenue for both Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus, the network's subscription companion channel.

“In Sinclair we have found the perfect owner-partner to accelerate scaling the Tennis Channel brand and our sport’s expanding fan-base to the next level," former Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon said in a 2016 statement. "Sinclair’s unique size and position in the media ecosystem will facilitate significant distribution growth towards parity with our competitive set and expand our brand’s assets and unique value as the go-to destination for all things tennis in the U.S. and beyond.”

Tennis Channel has also enjoyed an infusion of advertiser dollars from betting firms, though some viewers have grown frustrated with TC repeatedly force-feeding odds displayed before and during matches as an annoying distraction putting gamblers ahead of true tennis fans.

Launched on May 15, 2003 by founder Steve Bellamy, Tennis Channel has added health and fitness, travel and pop culture programming to its tennis coverage trying to broaden viewership without alienating core viewers who still come to TC to watch tennis.