ESPN Interactive TV, seen on DIRECTV and ESPN3, will again present the Australian Open in a six-screen “mix channel” format. For eight hours each evening during the first eight days of the tournament, viewers will be able to watch the ESPN2 feed or select from five other courts, all with commentary and customized graphics. Interactive data features include the tournament draw, up-to-date scores, daily order of play, and social media interaction. SportsCenter’s Steve Weissman will anchor the coverage, providing studio updates and news from around the tournament. Joining the announce team are former players Chanda Rubin, Jeff Tarango, Leif Shiras, Elise Burgin, Doug Adler, Nick Lester, and Christen Bartelt, along with play by play announcers Mark Donaldson and Brian Webber. New for 2014, viewers will enjoy advanced interactive features providing player bios, as well as match-specific Twitter Feeds and “bottom line” information.
ESPN International will deliver over 110 hours of live HD coverage to the pan-regional ESPN networks in Latin America. Showcasing the biggest names in tennis and players of local relevance, broadcasts will air in three languages, including Spanish coverage in Mexico, Central America & South America, Portuguese coverage in Brazil, and English coverage in the Caribbean. ESPN+ Brazil will air over 60 hours of live complementary coverage throughout the early rounds, while ESPN+ in South America will air over 30 hours of additional Spanish coverage.
DIGITAL MEDIA, AT HOME AND ABROAD
WatchESPN will deliver ESPN2’s and ESPN’s live coverage of the Australian Open online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members, Apple TV and Roku. Additionally, ESPN3 will once again provide coverage of up to eight live feeds from the TV courts – 500 hours. For the first 11 days (Sun., Jan. 12 – Wed., Jan. 22), coverage will commence at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in Melbourne, when play begins) and continue for at least seven hours. The courts to be included are the “TV courts,” the ones most likely to have top matches: Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Margaret Court Arena, plus Courts 2, 3, 6 and 8. For the remainder of the tournament, ESPN3 will continue with select live coverage from ESPN2, including the women’s (Jan. 25) and men’s (Jan. 26) finals, plus exclusive coverage of select men’s, women’s and mixed doubles play and the boys’ and girls’ finals. Fans can also access ESPN3 feeds from AustralianOpen.com. Each window will be available for on-demand replay following completion. With ESPN3’s dynamic interface, fans will be able to fast-forward, rewind and pause action – during on-demand replay and live action.
ESPNtenis.com will have the following content: A daily webisode called “ESPiaNdo el Australian Open”; an “applet” featuring real-time, point-by-point scoring of all matches; live scores, results and brackets; columns, chats and blogs by TV commentators and other writers; polls; the “Ask ESPN” feature, prompting users to send their comments/questions via the website; video clips with highlights of daily action and analysis; TV scheduling information, and photo galleries.
ESPN International’s ESPN Play (Watch ESPN in Brazil) broadband service in Latin America will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the year’s first Grand Slam, airing over 500 hours of live tennis from every available televised court, including the men’s & women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, all live. This streaming action will be available in 16 million homes throughout Spanish-speaking Latin America/Caribbean plus eight million more homes in Brazil.
source:tennispanorama
