CBS, ESPN2 AND TENNIS CHANNEL TO BROADCAST SONY ERICSSON OPEN
77 Total Hours of U.S. Coverage Scheduled for Miami’s ATP/WTA 2-Week Tennis Event

MIAMI, Fla. (www.sonyericssonopen.com) – The Sony Ericsson Open, one of the largest and most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world, has announced that ESPN2 will join Tennis Channel and CBS this year in broadcasting an event-record 77 hours of domestic coverage of the 2011 tournament.

Broadcast coverage begins March 26 on Tennis Channel and moves over to ESPN2 beginning March 30; both the women’s and men’s final will broadcast live on CBS April 2 and April 3, respectively (complete schedule below).

Tennis Channel will kick-off coverage with a 13-hour live broadcast of both men's second round and women's third round matches on Saturday, March 26 beginning at 11:00 a.m.

ESPN2 will begin its coverage Wednesday, March 30 at 1:00 p.m. with eight total hours of live action. ESPN2’s broadcast will conclude Friday, April 1 with live coverage of both men's semi-final matches. The first semi-final match will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the nightcap starting at 7:00 p.m.

CBS will broadcast live coverage of the women’s final on Saturday, April 2 at 12:30 pm, and the men’s final on Sunday, April 3, at 1:00 pm.

Close to 2,400 hours of Sony Ericsson Open matches were broadcast worldwide last year to more than 153 million viewers.

To see all the action in person, tickets to the Sony Ericsson Open are on sale now and can be purchased by phone (305-442-3367) or via the internet at www.sonyericssonopen.com. 

                                  2011 Domestic Broadcast Schedule

Day/Date	Time (ES)	Station	Type
Saturday, March 26	11:00 am – 12:00 am	TC	Live
Sunday, March 27	11:00 am – 11:30 pm	TC	Live
Monday, March 28	11:00 am – 11:30 pm	TC	Live
Tuesday, March 29	11:00 am – 11:30 pm	TC	Live
Wednesday, March 30	1:00 pm – 5:00 pm	ESPN2	Live
	7:00 pm – 11:00 pm	ESPN2	Live
Thursday, March 31	1:00 pm – 5:00 pm	ESPN2	Live
	7:00 pm – 9:00 pm	TC	Live
	11:00 pm – 1:00 am	ESPN2	Delayed
Friday, April 1	1:00 pm – 3:00 pm	ESPN2	Live
	7:00 pm – 9:00 pm	ESPN2	Live
Saturday, April 2	12:30 pm - 3:00 pm	CBS	Live
	3:00 pm – 4:30 pm	TC	Live
Sunday, April 3	1:00 pm – 3:30 pm	CBS	Live

Tennis Channel: 54 hours / ESPN2: 18 hours / CBS: 5.0 hours / Total Hours: 77.0 hours

ABOUT THE SONY ERICSSON OPEN: The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open will be played March 21-April 3 at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Miami. The combined event, founded by Butch Buchholz in 1985, is owned and operated by IMG. The Sony Ericsson Open is one of nine ATP Masters Series events on the ATP calendar, a Premier Mandatory event on the Sony Ericsson WTA TOUR calendar, and features the top men's and women's tennis players in the world.  In 2010, the tournament recorded 11 session sellouts, set eight session records and surpassed 300,000 in attendance for the first time in tournament history. For ticket information, call (305) 442-3367 or visit the website at www.sonyericssonopen.com.
 
ABOUT SONY ERICSSON: Sony Ericsson is a 50:50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson established in October 2001, with global corporate functions located in London and operations in all major markets.  Our vision is to become the industry leader in Communication Entertainment; where new styles of communicating through the internet and social media, become entertainment.  Sony Ericsson offers exciting consumer experiences through phones, accessories, content and applications, for more information please visit: www.sonyericsson.com.  Sony Ericsson is the title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year. For more information, please visit www.sonyericssonwtatour.com.