Wimbledon TV Coverage All Live in the U.S.

Under the All England Club’s new television contract, all matches from Wimbledon 2012 will be broadcast live and by the same company in the United States. They ended a 43-year relationship with NBC last summer when they agreed to a 12-year deal with ESPN. The finals will now air in fewer homes with the move to cable. However, switching to cable makes the tournament easier to follow in the middle rounds and gets rid of tape-delayed matches.

Since 2003, NBC would pick up coverage as the tournament progressed with ESPN owning the rights to televise the early rounds. NBC has often been criticized in the past for not showing all the action live in every time zone. Starting in 2014, NBC would have ditched the tape delays with using its cable partner NBC Sports Network.

Around 2007-2008 there was a shift in the expectations of fans. Jamie Reynolds, vice president for event production at ESPN, noticed that everyone seemed to own a smartphone, making it easier to check scores immediately. Social media has made live broadcasting crucial. Novak Djokovic may be down in the fifth set, when a fan reads it on Twitter or Facebook they decide to tune in. Next Monday will start ESPN’s coverage of Wimbledon. It will include simultaneous airings of the quarterfinals on ESPN and ESPN2, "Breakfast at Wimbledon," and all other televised courts on ESPN3.com.

ESPN’s senior director of programming and acquisitions, Jason Bernstein, stressed that the announcers must keep viewers informed of all other matches on various courts and where they will be able to find the matches. It will ensure that fans aren’t confused and turning the TV off. Updates also need to be made on what happened in earlier matches because many people tune in for only bits and pieces of the coverage.

Mick Desmond, commercial director at the All England Club, said it is critical keeping the whole tournament with one company and airing everything live. All time zones will be live, even the West Coast. If a match starts in London at noon, it will begin at 7:00 a.m. in the Eastern time zone and 4:00 a.m. in the West.

Considering who is playing and how competitive the matches have greatly contributed to the ratings for the Wimbledon finals. Making the earlier rounds more accessible will test the new TV deal and how it will build momentum for the last weekend.