The US Tennis Association has begun talks on alternative broadcast plans for the US Open tournament if CBS remains off the air in the New York area due to the network’s ongoing dispute with cable-television operator Time Warner Cable.
TWC customers have been without CBS since early this month in several major US media markets, including New York, due to a retransmission fee dispute between the two parties.
CBS has been a rights-holder of the US Open since 1968 and is currently in the final two years of its contract with the USTA before sports broadcaster ESPN secures full control of the rights from 2015.
CBS is scheduled to provide coverage of the Labor Day weekend of matches, along with the women’s and men’s semi-finals and finals. ESPN and pay-television broadcaster Tennis Channel will show the rest of the United States’ grand slam tournament, which this year starts on August 26.