The pickleball phenomenon continues after the Tennis Channel and the Professional Pickleball Association Tour launched Pickleballtv, a 24/7 free, ad-supported streaming channel as part of a new joint venture. Now, Pickleballtv is coming to Samsung TV Plus.
Pickleball TV is already live on Plex, Fubo, and Freevee, launching in late 2023. You can also watch the channel fee on its website and see upcoming live events HERE.
The channel capitalizes on the growing popularity of the sport, which saw interest surge during the pandemic as people sought new outdoor activities.
“The future of any sport is driven by its media approach,” Tennis Channel President Ken Solomon said in a statement. “Tennis Channel has spent two decades streamlining the sheer volume of tennis, its tours and its schedules in an easy-to-follow system across popular platforms. Now we’re going to apply that same hub-and-spoke model to show people how compelling pickleball and its stars are at the professional level.”
Pickleballtv offers a free, ad-supported channel but will eventually become a streaming live/video-on-demand service, according to a release from the PPA. The venture also aims to build separate websites and apps dedicated to the tour. Tennis Channel will air a minimum of 100 hours of PPA Tour play on its channel as well as T2, the company’s FAST channel, Tennis Channel Plus, its website and app.
“This is an exciting moment in the ongoing evolution of the Carvana PPA Tour,” Tom Dundon, owner of the Professional Pickleball Association said in a statement. “There’s no company in the world that’s as well positioned as Tennis Channel to immediately capitalize and expand upon the current pickleball explosion and the early success of the PPA Tour.”
Samsung TV Plus is available on the company’s smart TVs, Galaxy phones and tablets, its smart monitors, Family Hub refrigerators, and the web.