Disney reports strong second quarter 2012 results

The Walt Disney Co. reported a 21% jump in net income for the quarter, as the strong performance of the television business and at the theme parks more than offset losses at the film studio.

Revenues rose to $9.6 billion for the three months ending March 31, up 6% from the same time a year ago. Net income exceeded $1.1 billion, compared with $942 million a year earlier. Disney reported earnings per share of 58 cents, excluding one-time items, an increase of 18% from a year ago.

The film studio reported an operating loss of $84 million for the quarter, reflecting the write-down associated with the sci-fi adventure film "John Carter."  The big-budget film, released in early March, brought in just $70 million in domestic box-office receipts, well shy of breaking even.

Disney's box-office dud was followed, two months later, by the record-setting performance of "The Avengers." The superhero movie, released by Disney's Marvel Entertainment group, smashed the domestic record for best opening weekend. 

"The Avengers," a film packed with action and A-list performers, brought in more than $207 million in its first three days of release in the U.S., and grossed a total of $702 million worldwide in its first two weeks. The results will be reflected in Disney's third quarter.

“We’re incredibly optimistic about our future, given the strength of our core brands,
Disney, Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC," Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger said in a statement. "And our extraordinary ability to grow franchises across our businesses, such as 'The Avengers,' which shattered domestic box-office records."

Disney's Media Networks television group remains the company's cash cow, reporting operating income of $1.7 billion for the quarter -- up 13% from a year ago.

Parks and resorts showed the most substantial gains. Operating income rose 53% to $222 million in the quarter, reflecting increased attendance and spending at Disney's domestic parks, and improved results from the Tokyo Disney Resort, which was closed a year ago because of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

RELATED:

Rich Ross' departure sends aftershocks at Disney

Disney expects $200 million loss on 'John Carter'

'The Avengers' final opening weekend tally: $207.4 million

-- Dawn Chmielewski

Photo: Walt Disney Studios President of Production Sean Bailey; Walt Disney Studios President Alan Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Walt Disney Co. Bob Iger, then-President of Marketing Walt Disney Studios MT Carney and then-Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Rich Ross attend "The Muppets" Los Angeles Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on Nov. 12, 2011, in Hollywood. Credit: Todd Williamson / WireImage

 

 

Hulu owners to buy Providence Equity's stake for $200 million

Providence Equity Partners is selling its stake in online video service Hulu for about $200 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

The move, first reported by Bloomberg News, is expected to give at least two of Hulu's media company owners -- News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. -- a greater ownership stake in the rapidly growing online service. 

The 5-year-old service now has more than 2 million paid subscribers to its Hulu Plus offering, and about 38 million visitors a month to its free site, which offers catch-up episodes of such popular television shows as "Glee," "Revenge," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." 

The buy-out of the private equity firm would resolve some of the tensions that have been simmering for more a year. The stakeholders have long argued about Hulu's direction, priorities and monetization strategy.  Nine months ago, the partners considered selling Hulu, but the media companies opted not to shed the venture because they did not want to lose control of the online distribution of their valuable content.

All the while, the Rhode Island-based Providence Equity made it clear that it was increasingly interested in cashing out its stake.

People close to the situation, who asked not to be identified because no sales deal has been finalized, said the media companies have a "hand-shake agreement" to pay Providence Equity about $200 million for its 10% stake.  However, these people said, the overall valuation of Hulu would be less than $2 billion. The partners instead agreed to pay Providence a premium on its investment.

The approximately $200 million payment would allow Providence Equity to double its investment. The firm contributed $100 million in 2007 to help founding companies NBCUniversal and News Corp. launch Hulu. Disney came aboard as a partner in 2009.

Hulu's ownership structure has been complicated by NBCUniversal's equity stake.  Although the media company helped launch Hulu, NBCUniversal's new controlling owner -- Comcast Corp. -- agreed to give up NBCUniversal's seats on the Hulu board and any voice in the management of Hulu as part of a 2011 settlement with federal government. The Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, government agencies that reviewed Comcast's takeover of NBCUniversal, were concerned that Comcast might use its interest in Hulu to stymie the development of an online video service that competes with Comcast's core business of providing bundles of television channels to consumers. 

The two managing partners -- News Corp. and Disney -- have not determined whether to use cash on hand to buy out Providence, thereby increasing their stakes in Hulu, or bring in more private money, according to one person close to the situation.

The agreement being worked out also would allow the vesting of some shares held by Hulu's chief executive, Jason Kilar, and other ranking members of management. However, one person close to Hulu said that Kilar is expected to stay on, at least in the short term, to run the company.

Both Hulu and Providence Equity declined to comment.

In an interesting twist, the news comes in the same week that Providence announced it would invest $200 million in Peter Chernin's entertainment company, The Chernin Group.  Chernin was one of the architects of Hulu, when he was president of News Corp., and he brokered the deal to include Providence Equity in the ownership structure. In addition, Chernin was named a senior advisor to Providence Equity.

Chernin, through a spokeswoman, declined comment.

RELATED:

Hulu's Jason Kilar thinks different about television

Hulu launches "Battleground," its first original show

Hulu is popular, but that wasn't the goal

-- Meg James

Photo: Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar at the company's Santa Monica headquarters in July 2010.  Credit:  Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Disney, DMG team up to make 'Iron Man 3' a Chinese co-production

The Walt Disney Co. and its Marvel Studios subsidiary said Monday that "Iron Man 3" will be a co-production with China, as the Burbank company teamed with DMG Entertainment of Beijing to co-finance and distribute the film.

Robert Downey, Jr., Gwynneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle will return for the third movie in the hit franchise, whose two films grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and $42.8 million between them in China. The third installment of the movie will be directed by Shane Black unlike the first two installments which were directed by Jon Favreau. Filming in the U.S. is to start in May, and in China in late summer; the movie is slated for release in May 2013.

Foreign films co-produced in China have an easier time getting cleared by Chinese censors and do not fall under the country's annual import cap. 

“The popularity of the Marvel franchise globally creates a huge opportunity to deliver fans yet another action packed film,” Stanley Cheung, Disney’s greater China managing director, said in a statement.

DMG and Disney did not reveal how much DMG would invest in the production, nor did they give specifics about what plot elements would be shot in China. Last week, DMG's chief executive Dan Mintz told the Los Angeles Times that the film's budget was $200 million.  A Disney spokeswoman said she had not heard what the budget was to be.

DMG is a 19-year-old private Beijing advertising firm-turned-film producer and aspiring distributor. It is a partnership between two Chinese and Mintz, an American. 

DMG will manage the Chinese production elements of “Iron Man 3’’ and keep the China distribution rights.

“Our collaboration with Disney and Marvel marks a milestone in the global entertainment landscape, as this signifies the first multi-billion dollar franchise to be produced between Hollywood and China,” Mintz said in the statement.

DMG boasts close working ties with the state-run China Film Group, the country’s biggest studio and monopoly importer. DMG helped CFG with the production and marketing of two recent major propaganda films, one made to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic in 2009 and the other the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. Both films were hits but were still out-earned by Hollywood imports.

Last spring at a black-tie party, Mintz emceed the announcement of DMG’s partnership with Endgame Entertainment to make Rian Johnson's film “Looper.” DMG added little-known Chinese actress Xu Qing to the time-travel action film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt, which will arrive in U.S. theaters this fall.

In an interview with The Times last week, Mintz said DMG was going to “talk to the whole world but try to infuse Chinese elements.”

The announcement on "Iron Man 3" comes just days after Disney said it would join an initiative with an animation arm of China's Ministry of Culture and China's largest Internet company, Tencent Holdings Ltd., to develop China's animation industry. Disney said it would offer its expertise in areas such as story writing and market research to help develop local Chinese talent.

In the first quarter, China overtook Japan as the world’s second biggest box office market after the U.S. Last year, China's box office posted its 10th consecutive year of double-digit growth to gross $2.08 billion, up 31% from 2010.

RELATED:

Disney to join animation initiative with China

Disney strikes deal to distribute movies to Chinese cable viewers

Complete L.A. Times coverage of Hollywood and China

-- Jonathan Landreth in Hong Kong

Photo: Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark in the movie "Iron Man 2." Credit: Francois Duhamel / Marvel Entertainment 

Hulu's Jason Kilar 'Thinks Different' about television

Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar chose the advertising agency's conference in Los Angeles to do his own riff on Apple Inc.'s "Think Different" campaign.

Instead of saluting "The Crazy Ones" from the memorable TBWA/Chiat/Day ad campaign from 1997 that heralded the rebirth of Apple -- and featured some seminal figures of the 20th century, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi and Albert Einstein -- Kilar offered his own pantheon of innovators.

Kilar saluted those who strove to do better -- including Walt Disney, who conceived of the idea for Disneyland while sitting on a park bench in Griffith Park, watching his daughters ride a merry-go-round; James Dyson, who invented the bagless vacuum cleaner (and brought a sense of industrial design to the bland household appliance), and Steve Jobs, whose iPhone relegated the rotary dial phones to museum pieces.

"I can think of no bigger inspirations for looking at the world around you and looking for a better way," said Kilar, speaking Wednesday at the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies conference at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Hulu, said Kilar, strives to bring the same relentless innovation to television. "If we're really on our game people will look back on it and will say, "Wow, I can't believe TV was like that in 2007."

The online television service, which is jointly owned by media giants News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, as well as Providence Equity Partners, brought in $420 million in revenue last year. The site, which features television shows from the current season, attracted some 37.7 million viewers last month.

Kilar articulated his oft-repeated vision for the future of television, saying it will become more personalized (the way Internet radio service Pandora delivers music tailored to a listener's taste) and social.

"TV is one of the most social mediums.... The things people talk about most are the weather and television," Kilar said. "With digital, we should be able to encourage social to the core. It's going to be a big, big deal."

Kilar also highlighted some of Hulu's attempts to re-imagine advertising, including allowing the viewer to choose which ad they'd like to watch, or to skip commercials they don't find relevant. Such efforts increase the viewer's ability to remember the promotions they've watched, Kilar said. "The recall goes through the roof because they're mentally engaged with the ad."

RELATED:

Conference in L.A. reflects city's rise as ad industry hub

Hulu strikes distribution deal with Freemantle

CW network to offer new TV episodes on Hulu

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Video: Steve Jobs narrates this unaired version of Apple Inc.'s 1997 "Think Different" ad campaign.

Disney expects $200-million loss on 'John Carter'

Walt Disney Co. said it expects to incur a loss of about $200 million on its big-budget sci-fi film, "John Carter,"  based on box-office results.

The film's theatrical performance -- which brought in $184 million in global box-office sales, well shy of expectations -- will drag the film studio to an operating loss that Disney estimated at $80 million to $120 million for the company's second quarter.

Wall Street analysts had projected a write-down for the film, which cost an estimated $350 million to make and market. One analyst estimated losses would approach as much as $165 million, based on uneven reviews and pre-release surveys of prospective moviegoers.

The Martian adventure story was based on a century-old science fiction series that had inspired other filmmakers, including George Lucas and James Cameron. It was intended as a potential new franchise, which would fuel merchandise sales, theme park attractions and lead to film sequels.

But the movie failed to connect with contemporary audiences in the U.S., in part because the source material by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs had already been so picked over by admirers that 'John Carter' felt derivative. Its director, Andrew Stanton, had never made a live-action movie before.  And the studio executives guiding the project had limited experience in running movie divisions.

Disney issued a brief statement, warning of the expected operating loss and projecting forward to its summer movies, including Marvel's latest superhero adventure, "The Avengers," and Pixar Animation Studios' forthcoming original film, "Brave."

"We believe [these] have tremendous potential to drive value for the studio and the rest of the company," the company said in its statement.

RELATED:

Why did Disney's 'John Carter' flop?

Critics not over the moon for 'John Carter'

'The Lorax' leaves 'John Carter' feeling spaced-out

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Photo: Mark Strong, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe attend the British premiere of "John Carter" at The BFI Southbank in March in London. Credit: Dave J. Hogan / Getty Images

Oscars 2012: A hit in social media

 

Although the 84th Annual Academy Awards came across decidedly old school in its television broadcast, the event delivered high marks in new media. 

Sunday's Oscar ceremony generated 3.8 million comments on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, according to data generated by Cambridge, Mass.-based Bluefin Labs. That made this year's awards show the second most talked-about entertainment event on TV since the company began measuring and analyzing social media traffic several years ago.

CBS' telecast of the Grammy Awards this month was the undisputed champ with 13 million social media comments. The third most popular awards event was last year's MTV Video Music Awards with 3.1 million comments, according to Bluefin Labs.

The ABC television network, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and advertisers stepped up their social media campaigns promoting the Oscars this year, in large part, to keep the TV ratings high. Their efforts appeared to have paid off with Nielsen's estimates that more than 39 million viewers tuned in -- an increase of 1.4 million people compared with last year's show. 

Comments on social media sites surrounding Sunday's ceremony and red carpet arrivals surged nearly 300% over last year's gala. In 2011, there were fewer than 1 million comments. The trend suggests that more people are turning to social media outlets while watching TV by using a "second screen" -- a tablet, smartphone or laptop computer -- to stay connected to their friends and followers who are also watching TV.

Bluefin Labs' analysis found that the gender breakdown for the social media pundits was roughly in line with the composition of the TV audience. An estimated 57% of those who commented were women; men made up 43%.

It was more difficult to ascertain the mood of commenters. Bluefin found that 22% of the comments about the Oscars were positive, 16% negative and 62% neutral.

Peaks in the social media traffic came at somewhat predictable intervals.  The most talked-about moment came at the end of the evening when the nearly silent film, "The Artist," won for best picture. The second most popular portion was the presentation of three awards by Tina Fey and Bradley Cooper -- two crowd-pleasing comedians particularly popular with the social media demographic. 

The pair was on screen several minutes, presenting honors for film editing, won by "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and sound editing and sound mixing, both won by Martin Scorsese's 3-D family film "Hugo."

Octavia Spencer's emotional acceptance speech for supporting actress for her performance in "The Help" was the third most popular highlight in social media. Remarks about Spencer ranked highest in terms of "most positive." 

And even though, at age 82, Christopher Plummer would seem to be well beyond the Facebook demographic, his win for supporting actor in "Beginners" registered as the fourth most buzzed-about Oscar moment. 

RELATED:

Advertisers aTwitter over the Oscars

Sunday's Oscars up slightly in early ratings

Oscars 2012:  Like the winning movies, the show celebrates the past

-- Meg James

Photo: Octavia Spencer, escorted by Christian Bale, after Spencer's win for supporting actress for her performance in "The Help." Credit:  Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

 

Disney reports 12% net income bounce in its 2012 first quarter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rebound at Walt Disney Co.'s domestic theme parks and strong performances by ESPN and the Disney Channel helped drive a 12% increase in the company's first-quarter net income compared with a year earlier.

The Burbank media giant reported that revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was essentially flat at $10.8 billion, up 1% from a year earlier. Net income rose to nearly $1.5 billion for the period, up from $1.3 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 18% to 80 cents, from 68 cents in the prior year's first quarter.

"We're off to a good start in this fiscal year," Disney President and Chief Executive Bob Iger said in a statement.

Before Disney reported its results, media analysts said they would be watching advertising trends at ESPN, the powerhouse cable sports network that Morgan Stanley estimates contributes approximately 8% of the company's revenue. 

ESPN's primetime ratings tumbled 15% in the December quarter, compared with a year earlier, according to TV ratings firm Nielsen. Viewership for "Monday Night Football" fell "due to an underwhelming lineup," according to Morgan Stanley.

The sports network's advertising revenue was essentially flat in the quarter, Disney reported. ESPN was negatively affected by the NBA player lockout, which delayed the start of the professional basketball season. The network carried just two games played in the quarter, versus 29 a year earlier, ESPN said. (Revenue resulting from the Rose and Fiesta college football bowl games will be reflected in the second quarter.)

Nonetheless, Disney's media networks group, which includes its cable channels as well as its ABC television network and locally owned stations, continued to fuel the company's bottom line. Revenue for the quarter rose 3% to $4.8 billion and segment operating income rose 12% to nearly $1.2 billion, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne had expected theme park margins to improve, as new attractions opened and the effect on Tokyo Disneyland royalties from last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan fades.

Disney said revenue for parks and resorts rose 10% to $3.2 billion in the quarter, compared with a year earlier, and that operating income increased 18% to $553 million. The company said visitors were spending more at its domestic parks. The Disney Cruise Line also reported higher operating income.  

The film studio's revenue fell 16% to $1.6 billion for the quarter, but operating income grew 10% to $413 million. Though the company scored with "The Muppets" and the late third quarter re-release of "The Lion King," and acted as distributor for movies including DreamWorks' "War Horse," the studio had fewer Disney-branded movies in theaters over the holidays, the company said. DVD sales fell.

RELATED:

Disney's net income rises 30% in fourth quarter

Disney CEO Bob Iger signs new, five-year contract

Disney CEO Bob Iger's compensation totals nearly $31.4 million

A scene from the upcoming Disney movie "John Carter," starring Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, center, and Taylor Kitsch, as John Carter, at right. Credit: Disney

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Disney and Univision in talks for English-language news channel

The Walt Disney Co. and the nation's leading Spanish-language broadcaster are in talks to launch an English-language cable news channel, according to people familiar with the matter.

A new 24-hour channel would represent a move by both companies to enter new territory. Disney's ABC News could compete for viewers with established around-the-clock cable news operations such as News Corp.'s Fox News, Time Warner's CNN and Comcast Corp.'s MSNBC. Until now, ABC has shown little appetite for joining the cable news wars.

Univision Communications, which owns the nation's fifth-largest TV network, could use the channel to reach more acculturated viewers that advertisers prefer: Latinos who predominately speak English.  Univision has already announced plans to launch a cable news network, this one a Spanish-language channel, later this spring.

A Univision spokeswoman declined to comment, as did an ABC spokesman.

ABC has struggled to be more competitive and has shed hundreds of staff members from its ABC News division because the network produces only a few newscasts. NBC News correspondents provide coverage to multiple channels, allowing the network to better monetize costs.

The discussions were first reported Monday by The Wall Street Journal, but no deal is imminent, said one knowledgeable person. 

The nation's Latino population is sizable and fast-growing. Nearly 50 million people described themselves as Hispanic or Latino in the 2010 U.S. Census, up 43% from a decade ago.   

Second- and third-generation Latinos also have greater disposable income than their parents or grandparents, making them an atrractive and underserved audience. Targeting these viewers would help differentiate the channel from more established cable competitors.

Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks, addressed his desire to court bilingual viewers in a keynote speech he gave last month during the National Assn. of Television Program Executives convention in Miami. Univision has begun offering English captions for all of its prime-time telenovelas.

As envisioned, ABC and Univision would share news gathering and production costs. Disney would also stand to collect subscriber fees from cable operators, helping to underwrite the heavy cost of a television news operation.

RELATED:

Univision plans three new cable TV channels

Dish Network to distribute Univision channels

Univision telenovelas with a twist: English subtitles

Photo: ABC's "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer. Credit: ABC.

— Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James

 

In the 2010 Census, 50.5 million people said they were Hispanic or Latino. That’s up from 43% from 35.3 million in 2000.  That help

Viacom executives again among America's highest paid

Billionaire Sumner Redstone got a 39% boost in compensation last year in his role as executive chairman of Viacom Inc. The 88-year-old media mogul and his top two lieutenants together collected compensation packages in 2011 totaling nearly $100 million.

Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman was awarded $43 million in salary, stock and other benefits, according to the company's proxy filed late Friday with the Securities & Exchange Commission. While still sizable, Dauman's compensation was considerably less (a 49% decrease) than in the previous year when he earned the distinction of being the highest-paid executive in corporate America with a package totaling $84.5 million.

Viacom's second in command, Chief Operating Officer Thomas Dooley, collected $34 million -- an amount that exceeds the pay package of Robert Iger, chief executive of the much larger Walt Disney Co. Iger received a total package of $33.4 million in 2011.

Executives of Viacom, which owns MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, have long been among the highest paid in the media industry. The compensation awarded to Dauman and Dooley spiked in 2010 when the two executives signed new employment agreements and received generous one-time stock awards. Dooley's 2010 package was $64.7 million.

Redstone was awarded $21 million in 2011. That was nearly $6 million more than in the previous year when his Viacom compensation was $15 million. Viacom included 12 months in the compensation calculation last year, whereas 2010 was based on a nine-month period.

"Those are big numbers," said corporate governance expert Charles Elson. "Viacom seems to be paying their executives entrepreneurial returns rather than managerial wages to run an established company with long-term assets. There seems to be a disconnect there."

Viacom defended the compensation.

"Almost 90% of our senior executive compensation is performance or equity based, which aligns their interests with those of our stockholders," Viacom said in a statement. "Their 2011 compensation reflects achievement in outstanding operational results, including double-digit growth in operating income and adjusted net earnings and a significant outperformance of the S&P 500."

Viacom's common stock increased nearly 9% last year.

RELATED:

Bob Iger's total compensation

Viacom executives at the top in media pay

Media moguls on elevated pay scale

-- Meg James

Photo: Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and Chairman Sumner Redstone in Beverly Hills in 2007.  Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

 

Verizon TV serves up Tennis Channel (again)

Just in time for the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, Verizon FiOS customers now have the ability to catch even more tennis coverage -- on the Tennis Channel.

Verizon, the New York-based telephone and television company, said Tuesday that after a nearly five-month blackout, it had forged an agreement with the Santa Monica-based Tennis Channel to return the cable channel to many of Verizon's 4 million television customers. 

That allowed the Tennis Channel on Tuesday to begin popping up on Verizon's FiOS TV ultimate package as well as a separate FiOS sports package offered to subscribers in California, upstate New York, Texas, Florida and other markets. 

The independently owned Tennis Channel joined Verizon's lineup in 2005 during the early days of FiOS service.  But last  September, just as the marquee U.S. Open tournament was getting under way in New York, Verizon's carriage contract expired and the company lost its right to carry the channel. 

At that time, the Tennis Channel also was removed from Cablevision Systems, which provides cable TV service to residents in the suburbs of New York, among other regions. The Tennis Channel and Cablevision have had a particularly testy relationship as the two companies have been unable to reach an agreement that would bring the Tennis Channel to most of Cablevision's customers.

The underdog Tennis Channel, which is available in about 30 million homes, has been challenging top-seeded cable giants -- including Cablevision and Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp -- in an effort to extend its reach and generate more revenue.

Separately on Tuesday, the Tennis Channel petitioned the courts to enforce a recent FCC administrative judge's ruling that Comcast must make the channel more widely available to its customers. Comcast said it would file a response to the Tennis Channel next week. The FCC is expected to decide on that dispute in the coming months. 

Financial terms of the new multi-year Verizon FiOS TV-Tennis Channel agreement were not disclosed. 

ESPN is providing the bulk of the TV coverage of the Australian Open for the U.S. audience. The Walt Disney Co.-owned sports operation turns over a few hours a day (4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific during the early rounds) to the Tennis Channel. The Tennis Channel, which pairs retired tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin with veteran sportscaster Bill Macatee, plans live broadcasts of the Australian Open women's doubles, men's doubles and the mixed doubles finals as well as encore presentations of the men's and women's finals, which are scheduled to air live on ESPN2.

RELATED: 

Tennis Channel Wins Significant Round Against Comcast Corp.

FCC lawyer sides with Tennis Channel in its dispute with Comcast

Tennis Channel faces off with Cablevision for U.S. Open coverage

-- Meg James

Photo:  Tennis star Serena Williams at this year's Australian Open in Melbourne.  Credit:  Quinn Rooney / Getty Images