1 month ago
Jeff Blackburn had a prolific 24-year tally astatine Amazon, helping create and build Prime Video, Amazon Studios, Amazon Music and starring nan company’s push into advertising. Prior to nan “everything store,” though, he was a erstwhile precocious schoolhouse tennis standout who came to admit that a passion for nan athletics and nan agelong hours required by a famously hard-driving tech civilization were incompatible.
The exec’s individual and master backgrounds officially fused past twelvemonth erstwhile he was named CEO of nan Tennis Channel by Sinclair, which paid $350 cardinal to get it successful 2016. After dropping tennis successful bid to play linebacker connected Dartmouth’s shot team, Blackburn “gave up nan racket,” arsenic he puts it, for 25 years. “I missed it truthful much, but was moving truthful hard,” he recalls. After rediscovering nan athletics while still astatine Amazon, he now plays competitory squad matches. “I spell retired location and conflict connected nan weekends,” he says pinch a grin.
Blackburn’s presence has coincided pinch an upswing successful ratings and streaming sign-ups. The outpouring play has been nan most-watched successful institution history, and clay-court play successful nan runup to adjacent month’s French Open continues pinch nan Mutua Madrid Open starring into nan Italian Open connected deck. Tennis Channel has afloat authorities to nan men’s and women’s pro tours, though it presently has nary authorities to nan 4 awesome tournaments. Even so, it is seeing momentum. The BNP Paribas Open successful Indian Wells, CA (which is owned by Oracle and Paramount titan Larry Ellison) jumped 24% complete nan erstwhile grounds viewership. Women’s tennis besides deed a milestone, pinch back-to-back title matches astatine Indian Wells and nan Miami Open some surpassing nan 2026 Australian Open Women’s Final. Earlier this month, unrecorded sum of nan men’s last successful Monte Carlo betwixt Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz classed among nan apical 3 sports broadcasts successful its clip period.
In a wide-ranging interview, Blackburn discussed his strategical scheme for Tennis Channel, really it fits into nan streaming landscape, competing pinch ESPN and different ample rivals, and different aspects of his first twelvemonth successful nan area office. The speech has been edited for clarity and length.
DEADLINE: Is it adjuvant that you person nan position of some subordinate and viewer?
BLACKBURN: Big time. At Amazon, I worked successful firm improvement strategy. I was an M&A personification for a really agelong time. And location were a batch of patterns that we saw. We had nan superior and awesome businesses we could participate – almost immoderate marketplace we wanted to, including entertainment. And this was crossed each verticals, each year. But past there’s immoderate wherever we ever said, ‘You know, rather honestly, nan aggravated attraction is gonna make it really hard.’ [Shoe retailer] Zappos required that. And we acquired them [in 2009]. Great company. Did well, incredibly well. Audible, aforesaid thing. So focused connected that category. Whole Foods. Organic grocery. That was our biggest acquisition, and we conscionable made nan decision, because they’re truthful focused. Like, we’re not gonna beryllium capable to do this for illustration them. They are truthful bully astatine it.
DEADLINE: And still growing.
BLACKBURN: They’re really bully astatine it! There was a logic we bought them, you know? But anyways, we had this attraction thing. And I had music, I had video and streaming. God, we ne'er could drawback Netflix. They’re conscionable a awesome institution and conscionable incredibly focused. Greg Peters, Ted, they’re amazing. Same point pinch Daniel Ek and Spotify. Like, conscionable truthful focused connected nan category. So, erstwhile I was reasoning astir Tennis Channel, I for illustration that astir it. It’s crazy aggravated focus. We are perfectly that way. And we’re ne'er going to extremity being that way. It’s what I emotion truthful overmuch astir nan company. And each facet of my vision, wherever we go, is to conscionable proceed to attraction connected nan tennis, nan crippled of tennis, and fto it grow, ’cause there’s gonna beryllium astonishing stars. There utilized to beryllium this, you know, ‘Federer and Nadal are gone. What’s gonna hap now?’ Now, oh, my God, we sewage nan champion rivalry successful tennis betwixt Sinner and Alcaraz. It’s possibly 1 of nan champion successful sports. They’re conscionable trading off. One’s getting amended and beating nan other, and past it flips six months later. Plus we’re men and women, 50-50, which is simply a immense advantage successful sports.
DEADLINE: That was nan condemnation of nan founders of Tennis Channel. The Golf Channel had been a successful motorboat but it was very male.
BLACKBURN: We’ve ever done that really well. It’s not me. It conscionable comes pinch nan business. We person exclusive authorities pinch nan 2 tours, and past we screen it all. There’s nary off-season. We are virtually 50 weeks a twelvemonth covering tennis. We person definite weeks wherever we will do 18 hours of accumulation 4 days successful a statement because we person 4 different tournaments each complete nan world.
DEADLINE: What’s nan world distribution for Tennis Channel?
BLACKBURN: We’re successful Spain, we’re successful Germany, we person a mini small business successful nan UK. We’re successful France a small bit. We’re really conscionable FAST channels, not afloat networks. Spain is our biggest market. We do person an world strategy, but it’s not a large attraction correct now.
DEADLINE: For a while, Eurosport was making a batch of moves successful tennis.
BLACKBURN: And Sky. But Sky went distant from tennis. We really had nan authorities astatine Prime Video for nan U.S. Open. I wanted to get into sports truthful badly, I was dying. Jeff [Bezos] was like, ‘Let’s do UFC.’ I’m like, ‘No, let’s do tennis!’ [Laughs.] But we really did both. We did immoderate UFC pay-per-view successful 2017, ’18. No 1 was doing sports successful streaming. And past we licensed formation volleyball globally. We licensed nan U.S. Open and ATP/WTA for UK streaming. And past we did nan Thursday nighttime shot tri-cast. Those were nan first 4 deals that I did successful sports for Amazon. And it was benignant of ‘get our feet wet’ type of moment. But backmost then, I was dying to do tennis. I wish we could person done much tennis. It’s just, erstwhile you beryllium successful a multi-sport authorities holder, It’s excessively small.
DEADLINE: it’s an able audience, though.
BLACKBURN: And it’s growing. It is successful that position coming successful nan U.S., but it whitethorn not beryllium forever. I mean, it’s a dependable grower.
DEADLINE: In summation to nan main linear channel, you besides person a subscription streaming service. How do you equilibrium those?
BLACKBURN: The flagship web is Tennis Channel. Tennis Channel 2 is nan FAST channel, but it’s progressively conscionable becoming its ain network. It’s getting picked up by cable. To us, it’s for illustration our Spotify free, almost. It’s like, ‘Okay, yeah, effort it. It’s not nan best matches.’ You want nan champion of nan best, our champion programming, you want nan afloat deal. But if you want to watch immoderate tennis, it’s beautiful good. But our subscription app has each of it. And truthful correct erstwhile you spell into nan tennis transmission app, if you subscribe, you’ve sewage nan main flagship web streaming, you’ve sewage Tennis Channel 2. Then you person each nan replays, you person each court. You tin do multi-view. And we person Pickleball TV.
DEADLINE: And is nan app distributed successful nan accustomed places, Amazon, Roku and truthful on?
BLACKBURN: We administer nan app done Roku, but we’re not successful nan premium subscriptions programme – yet. But we want to beryllium everywhere. Let’s return each nan clash away. Let’s get tennis successful beforehand of everybody. If they only want to do nan FAST transmission and do immoderate free, that’s fine. We deliberation they’ll yet want to beryllium successful nan afloat subscription. They get nan app. You know, if you’re an flat present successful Manhattan and you’re 28 years old, you’re not gonna get cable. You’re gonna commencement pinch T2, and you’re gonna like, I emotion this ton of worldly truthful much. I gotta watch Madrid and Rome. You know, and past subscribe. and hopefully enactment pinch us.
DEADLINE: So person you ever disclosed streaming subscribers?
BLACKBURN: We don’t put it out. But we group records successful India Wells and Miami for motion ups. And besides audience. We were up 30% connected cable. I judge by emphasizing our streaming offering, being successful much places, being connected Amazon. People cognize there’s unrecorded tennis on. We’re increasing successful cablegram but it’s not astir nan complaint it is successful digital. If you look astatine an mean time successful Miami, like, successful nan mediate of nan tournament, 20% of what group are watching is streaming. So, that’s gonna beryllium 50%. And past erstwhile that happens, we’re a streaming company. We’re already a streaming institution that besides happens to administer done cable.
DEADLINE: There are much and much players making that transition. AMC Global Media, aliases Starz, which now has astir three-quarters of its subscribers successful streaming.
BLACKBURN: They were large connected Amazon Channels early. They went each in. Increasingly, you know, Amazon Channels is being replicated by everybody who has a large integer portal successful streaming, and we’re gonna beryllium portion of those. Everybody offers a large bundle, we’re gonna subordinate that if they want to do immoderate sports bundle. We’re unfastened for business connected nan bundling side. We’re a cleanable bundling partner.
DEADLINE: YouTube TV conscionable launched their skinny bundles, but I saw that you aren’t successful nan sports 1 astatine launch.
BLACKBURN: Yeah, T2 and Pickleball are successful it, but nan Tennis Channel is benignant of, if you look astatine nan channels and their sports tier, you show maine 1 amended than Tennis. Tennis Channel is nan astir premium point successful their sports tier. So, location is an issue, which we’re moving on.
DEADLINE: How do you consciousness your streaming work is arsenic a merchandise and a personification experience? Given your acquisition astatine Amazon, did you place things to amended erstwhile you sewage to nan company?
BLACKBURN: I identified a bunch of things correct away. Here’s nan bully news: It’s a profoundly knowledgeable team. I hired a awesome team. I knew nan accumulation broadside was A-plus. But we are a mini company, and truthful they chose to outsource a batch of nan components of nan integer strategy. And that’s not OK pinch me. We had nary package engineers. Now, we person six. We’re building that broadside slowly, and we’re moving immoderate of these outsourced relationships into areas wherever we tin power much of nan software, much of nan experience, much of nan personalization, nan search. You know, you want to get notifications astir Novak Jokovic aliases whatever, we request to beryllium capable to connection you that. Right now, we don’t person a nimble merchandise squad because we’ve outsourced definite parts of it, and past truthful we’re moving connected that.
DEADLINE: Do you besides consciousness you request to measurement up and get authorities to nan 4 awesome tournaments? ESPN has been nan ascendant subordinate there, but evidently you guys person measurement much wide coverage.
BLACKBURN: They utilized to person nan French Open, and they mislaid it to TNT a fewer years ago. And past conscionable benignant of backed distant from nan majors, and we’re Tennis Channel. It doesn’t make immoderate consciousness to me. truthful we’ve made an finance successful having to Jim Courier and Lindsay Davenport connected our on-air squad astatine nan majors, of course, we’re astatine nan majors. Now, we whitethorn not person unrecorded tennis, aliases we mightiness person a small bit, for illustration we do astatine Roland Garros. But we get it. Those are immense checks ESPN and TNT are writing. And that’s fine. We’ll group up their coverage, but we’re gonna beryllium there.
DEADLINE: When is nan adjacent model for authorities negotiations?
BLACKBURN: Australian Open, 2028. Okay. French Open was a 10-year woody done successful 2024, truthful 2034. U.S. Open is 2035. Wimbledon’s 2034, I think. So, yeah, that’s a ways out. So, anyway, I deliberation we’ll person collaborative relationships pinch TNT and ESPN.
DEADLINE: Do you spot a measurement to turn without nan majors?
BLACKBURN: We are conscionable going to present much tennis, amended tennis, and we don’t person thing to put connected apical of it. You know, you don’t person to scroll done assemblage shot and basketball. It’s not that they person awesome teams, and they’re superior astir tennis astatine ESPN, but they person galore different things they person to do. So, I consciousness comfortable pinch our position. Take retired nan 4 majors. There are 65 tournaments a year. We person authorities to them all. Within those, there’s possibly 9 that are benignant of for illustration mini-majors, they telephone them ‘1000s tournaments.’ We do incredibly well. Those are our Super Bowls. We dainty each 1 of those successful mega-way. Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid, Cincinnati. And truthful that’s our crippled plan. That’s what we do 52 weeks a year. Increasingly, though, it’s happening, and a batch of it’s conscionable social, and portion of it’s Sinner and Alcaraz, and what’s going connected pinch Coco Gauff. A younger, much casual group is getting willing successful tennis. And truthful that’s happening, and our web is getting younger. We’re 1 of 3 companies that really grew successful cablegram successful 2025. We’re not counting connected cablegram for growth, but I really deliberation we’re bringing successful a caller demographic wrong that group. And past we’re gonna move them each into streaming complete time. It’s not really thing that a multisport intermezo institution tin do. They tin prime disconnected a mates large tournaments, and really do a awesome job. I deliberation nan U.S. Open connected ESPN, they do a hellhole of a job. They really crush it. And they tin station immoderate large assemblage ratings numbers connected those days that are difficult for america to beat.
DEADLINE: Sinclair, your genitor company, had put Tennis Channel and different broadcast assets nether strategical reappraisal astatine 1 point. Are they still committed to you?
BLACKBURN: That’s gone, that was respective years ago. Sinclair, to their credit, made a awesome acquisition. They did a batch of bully things for it connected distribution. And they are awesome partner for us. And they made a bully decision, I think, to say, ‘Let’s reinvest successful Tennis Channel.’ It’s working. Let’s prosecute personification for illustration me. Let’s get nan integer portion right. So that’s what they did. So, it’s not connected nan market. We don’t request investments. We don’t request anything. We conscionable request to benignant of activity connected our ain business and amended it, transverse nan span into streaming.
