Time Warner Cable will be serving up free Wi-Fi access at next month’s U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York City.
The nation’s second-largest cable operator said the Wi-Fi deployment at the U.S. Open was its largest public venue installation to date with 235 access points. The free Wi-Fi access will run for the duration of the U.S. Open and will be available throughout all of the tournament’s key public areas including Arthur Ashe Stadium, East Gate, Food Village, Octagon, South Plaza and the Chase Indoor Tennis Center.
U.S. Open attendees can connect to the Wi-Fi via two SSIDs; USOPEN2014 or TWC WiFi.
Time Warner Cable introduced its self-service management portal for Wi-Fi two years ago. The management portal provides a branding opportunity for businesses’ to add their names and logos, and marketing messages on the Wi-Fi welcome pages. A spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable said the management portal for the venue would launch soon. For the U.S. Open SSID, there’s a vanity portal that is fully USTA branded while Time Warner Cable co-branded its TWC WiFi portal.
Time Warner Cable has installed access points from Cisco at the U.S. Open venues.
The Wi-Fi service was an extension of Time Warner Cable’s existing partnership with USTA, which began last year and includes advertising across select U.S. Open platforms and properties as well as the newly created Time Warner Cable Studios.
Time Warner Cable Studios will feature charging stations, a simulated control room feed of all televised match courts, and an interactive area that features an umpire chair photo and video experience, a “test your swing” activation and other fan engagement activities.
“We are excited to expand our sponsorship of the US Open and really elevate the experience for our customers and all tennis fans attending the Open this year,” said Jeffrey A. Hirsch, executive vice president, chief marketing/sales officer of residential services at Time Warner Cable. “We’re all increasingly reliant on Wi-Fi and our phones, so we’re happy that we can help fans get what they need without missing any of the action.”
The U.S. Open, which is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, announced earlier this summer that it would award an event-record $38.3 million in prize money this year, including $3 million to the men’s and women’s singles winners. The tournament is scheduled to run Sept. 2-6.
For more on business-related Wi-Fi services, check out the latest issue of CED magazine.
