The Wimbledon Championships get underway on 30 June, with Carlos Alcaraz gunning for a third successive title, with the BBC set to share broadcasting rights for the finals for the first time
The BBC’s monopoly on Wimbledon coverage in the UK is at an end, with TNT Sports to also broadcast the singles finals for the first time. The Grand Slam has been exclusively screened by the corporation for the last 88 years.
This year’s tournament gets underway on 30 June, with the men’s singles final wrapping up play on 13 July. Fresh from outlasting Jannik Sinner at the French Open in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals of all-time, Carlos Alcaraz will be looking to win at Wimbledon for the third successive year.
Last year, a peak of 7.5 million people tuned into BBC One to see Alcaraz defeat Novak Djokovic in the final, with the match also streamed live 1.78 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online.
Meanwhile during the ladies’ singles final, where Barbora Krejcikova was victorious over Jasmine Paolini, there was a peak audience of 4.1 million on BBC One. The match was also streamed live 1.34 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online.
The BBC do retain the majority of the rights this year thanks to the fact that the tournament is listed as a Category A event by Ofcom. That means that live coverage must be made available for free-to-air channels.
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But the rule also allows paid networks to share live coverage, as long as it continues to be shown on terrestrial television. That has allowed TNT Sports to take over Eurosport’s deal to show the finals for the first time.
Eurosport chiefs signed a five-year deal with the All England Club last year, but were then bought out by TNT. The paid-for broadcaster will only cover the finals, with all other matches shown exclusively live on the BBC.
The corporation will again provide comprehensive coverage of Wimbledon across its two main channels. Every match will also be shown on iPlayer, plus coverage via radio, online and the app.
The presenting line-up is yet to be confirmed, though two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has been linked with a role as a pundit. His coaching partnership with Djokovic recently came to an end, opening the door to a broadcast role at the championships.
Murray was previously in the commentary box in 2018 after undergoing his first hip surgery. His former mentee Djokovic will be looking to equal Roger Federer’s all-time record of eight Wimbledon titles.
The BBC are making a key change for this year’s championships. The broadcaster is looking to significantly cut the delay between the version of BBC Two broadcast via Freeview and the iPlayer.
A test will be held during Wimbledon giving selected iPlayer beta users access to a low latency version of the BBC Two live stream. This should cut down the delay.
The test was announced in a BBC blog post, which explained the move will help the broadcaster “assess how well low latency streaming approaches perform over today’s internet into our viewer’s homes.”
