Guest Column: Grading 2012 French Open TV Coverage

Guest Column: Grading 2012 French Open TV Coverage

Post by TMC » Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:51:16

http://fangsbites.com/2012/06/guest-column-grading-french-open-tv-cov...

by Ken, under ESPN, Guest Column, NBC Sports, Tennis, Tennis Channel,
The French Open

We continue the guest columns today. I hope you had a chance to read
the first column written by Paul Lebowitz on Joe Buck and Tim
McCarver. Well continue with the guest columns throughout the week
and we certainly have quite a bit of good material for you.

This comes from recent college graduate Ryan Scheb. A tennis fan, Ryan
has been watching the French Open on ESPN, NBC and Tennis Channel and
he gives his grades to all three rightsholders.

2012 French Open: Media Grades

Three networks, ESPN, The Tennis Channel and NBC have all teamed up to
provide all but round-the-clock coverage of tennis most grueling
tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. While the three networks
are playing nice together, which is a great benefit to viewers, each
network still has their own unique style. Here Ill spend some time
analyzing and grading each of the networks coverage.

ESPN

Last year, ESPN and the Tennis Channel decided to swap coverage
windows. ESPN now owns the rights to all courts from 5AM 10AM
Eastern. While ESPN lauded the move as being able to show more live
tennis, the French Open schedule makers have put the best matches
later in the day outside ESPNs viewing window.  Many times, the 3rd
match on Court Phillipe Chatrier (Roland Garros Center Court) has
been the premiere match of the day. This usually starts around 9:30AM,
Eastern Time. As ESPNs window ends at 10AM, they have sometimes
elected to not even show the beginning of the match because they will
obviously not be able to show it to its conclusion.

That being said, one of the greatest assets of ESPNs coverage is
their ESPN 3 website and Watch ESPN app for iPhones and iPads. Both
allow a viewer to watch live coverage of ongoing matches that are not
currently airing on ESPN as well as ESPNs coverage if a television is
not available.

While their coverage window at the French Open continues to be
somewhat frustrating, their coverage remains first class. I have long
said that ESPNs tennis crew has the best chemistry in all of sports.
Tennis, by its very nature, has a bit of a club-like mentality.
Because almost all of the broadcasters are put of this club, they all
seem to know each other quite well. This makes watching the ESPN
coverage of tennis so much fun because viewers can tell that the
commentators are more than colleagues, they are friends.

Unfortunately, this exclusive club causes conflicts of interest that
some broadcasters have trouble getting over. Patrick McEnroe is the
Director of Player Development for the USTA; he also serves as lead
analyst for ESPN. McEnroe is a pretty good analyst and he does a
fairly good job of overcoming his bias. While he (and the rest of the
ESPN team) root for Americans, he seems able to be objective in his
commentating.

The same cannot always be said for Mary Joe Fernandez, the captain of
the Womens Fed Cup team. While she is an adequate analyst, although I
find her a little boring, I was frustrated with her early in the
tournament when she refused to answer a question about which up and
coming American tennis player had the best chance to really make it.
The response of they all have some chance does not serve the viewer
well.

Led by the versatile Chris Fowler of College GameDay fame, the entire
ESPN crew is the best in the business. Fowler serves as occasional
host, although more and more he is calling matches.  It is clear that
he really enjoys tennis which viewers appreciate.  Darren Gilbert,
Brad Gilbert, Chris Evert and Pam Shriver join McEnroe and Fernandez
as analysts for ESPN. All are good analysts and very comfortable on
television. Gilbert is quirky but provides good strategic analysis (he
was a very successful coach.) He was at his best during the Djokovic-
Tsonga quarterfinal on Tuesday Cahill who joined the team when Gilbert
left to coach Andy Murray has really grown into his role as a
commentator.

Shriver is a personal favorite, although she can be polarizing. I
believe she is the most objective commentator on the team. Ironically,
she is the most separate from the tennis club mentioned before.
Chris (Chrissie) Evert is the newest member of the team; she replaced
the outspoken Mary Carillo. Evert is smart, well-spoken and ready to
be critical when necessary. But, even with Shriver and Evert, Carillo
is missed. (More on her later.) Both Shriver and McEnroe have begun to
call matches as play-by-play commentators with another analyst. Of
course, unlike in other sports, tennis commentators do not actually
talk during the points, so very few descriptions of what is happening
take place. Nevertheless, both have done well in this role.

Chris McKendry serves as host for the networks coverage and does a
good job. She does a much better job in that role than Hannah Storm.
Cliff Drysdale, who was one of ESPNs first ever employees, continues
to call matches with the team. He was not in Paris for the French Open
but will rejoin the crew for Wimbledon.

The Grade: A-. Great announcing team, solid production and online
streaming give the ESPN tennis team production a very respectable
grade.

How to Improve: Cliff Drysdale has probably seen his better days; it
is time for him to retire. Id like to see ESPN get Ted Robinson to
help them with Wimbledon and the US Open since he will not be working
during either of those tournaments. Also, Im not a huge fan of Mary
Joe Fernandez. She adds little to the commentary and struggles to
remain objective. Getting Carillo back would be a HUGE win for ESPN.

Tennis Channel

Its hard to believe that its been almost 10 years since the Tennis
Channel was launched. In these quick nine years, its come a long way.
What once started as an outlet for tennis fanatics to watch no-name
tournaments has turned into a must have network for even the faintest
of tennis fans. Their turnaround is no more obvious than at the French
Open, where they signed their first contract at a Grand Slam back in
2007. Since then they have acquired some sort of rights at all four
slams.

Despite having come a long way, there is still room for improvement.
Their graphics package looks like it comes from the 1980s and the lack
of online streaming is a major drawback.
 Sunday morning when Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were struggling,
I would have liked to be able to watch both matches. If this took
place during ESPNs television window, that would have been simple
with the aforementioned ESPN3. Tennis Channel did not offer that
opportunity. This continued during the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Novak
Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were in a tight match on Chatrier
while Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro were battling on Court
Suzanne Lenglen. Tennis Channel, which had coverage until 1PM Eastern
Time was only able to show one match at a time. When ESPN took over
coverage, I was immediately able to watch both matches thanks to
online streaming.

Without question, the French Open is their biggest event of the year.
As such, they bring their best crew to Paris. With NBC, they share Ted
Robinson, John McEnroe and Mary Carillo. Simply put, there is no
better broadcast booth in tennis. Robinson is a pro and he knows how
to handle McEnroe, who despite being tennis best analyst can be
overly talkative. Carillo, although toned down when McEnroe is in the
booth, is no stranger to highly opinionated commentary. Carillo is so
respected that she is constantly pegged by Sports Illustrateds
Richard Deitsch as one of the best broadcasters of any sport. (Note:
For Tennis Channels coverage, Carillo does not join Robinson and
McEnroe in the booth. Despite the fact that the two are good friends,
this is per McEnroes request.) The fact that the Tennis Channel uses
the best commentary team in all of tennis is impressive.

Unfortunately, the highlights end there. Other analysts for the Tennis
Channel include Lindsay Davenport, Rennae Stubbs, Justin Gimelstob and
Jon Wertheim. Ian Eagle, Brett Haber, Bill Macatee and Cari Champion
round out the team. Davenport and Stubbs are average analysts, but
both, Davenport especially, seem extremely shy. Gimelstob is
polarizing. While some, including CNBCs Darren Rovell have given
their approval, many others find him annoying, myself included. Tennis
Channels analysts, save for Carillo and McEnroe, are just a little
wet behind the ears. They definitely know the game, but they lack the
TV presence that make ESPNs team such a pleasure to watch.

The Grade: Ill give the Tennis Channel a B-. Not bad for a network
that three years ago would have gotten a D.

How to Improve: Time will help Tennis Channels newer analysts. Better
graphics and online streaming would greatly enhance their coverage.

NBC

NBC offers very limited coverage of the French Open. Robinson, McEnroe
and Carillo do all the commentating for the network. As mentioned,
they are a great crew. Frankly, there isnt too much else to say about
the network. They own a three hour window on the weekend days of the
tournament and then air some of the mens semifinals on Friday and the
two finals on the final weekend. NBC has been doing tennis for a long
time and they know what they are doing, except when it comes to airing
live coverage outside of the Eastern Time Zone on weekdays.

The Grade: Not much to grade, so Ill give them an S for
Satisfactory. They do the job and do it well.

How to Improve: Live Coverage to all time zones on semifinal Friday.

Overall, tennis fans are treated to pretty good coverage. ESPN is by
far the superior network, but both the Tennis Channel and NBC do a
nice job rounding out the coverage.  Looking ahead, ESPN has complete
coverage of Wimbledon this year, from the first serve to championship
point. Mercifully, gone are the days where NBC would take over midday
during the 2nd week of the tournament and then refuse to air live
coverage to the entire country. ESPN will air the tournament live to
the entire country, plus every television court will be available on
ESPN 3/Watch ESPN throughout the tournament, including the finals.
This is a great victory for tennis fans!

Thanks for reading! Id love to hear your thoughts.

Ryan Scheb graduated from the University of Florida; he majored in
Finance. This fall he will move to New York City where he will join
the Volunteer Program at Cristo Rey New York High School. Ryan is a
diehard Packers fan/owner and longtime tennis fan. He has always had
an interest in sports media and loves to write so he had a lot of fun
writing this guest column.

And we have more guest columns coming tomorrow. Thanks for reading.