NBC Sports and Turner Sports have reached a multi-year
deal with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for
the exclusive U.S. TV rights to Wimbledon. The agreement
begins with this year's tournament, to be held June 26-July
9, and will feature 124 1/2 hours of coverage, a 25%
increase from last year. TNT and CNN/SI will combine for 89
hours of coverage, and it will mark the first time the
tournament will be available on basic cable. TNT will air
61 hours of mostly daytime coverage, while CNN/SI will have
28 hours of primetime coverage. It will also be the first
time that CNN/SI will televise any sporting event (NBC
Sports). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke puts the total rights
fees of the three-year deal at "just short of" $30M. NBC
Sports Chair Dick Ebersol: "[NBC President] Bob Wright, [NBC
Sports President] Ken Schanzer and I had three goals.
Acquire the Triple Crown and NASCAR, and renew Wimbledon.
This completes it." TNT and CNN/SI are in 90.5 million
homes, while HBO is only in 25 million (USA TODAY, 1/19).
Turner Sports President Mark Lazarus: "Wimbledon is an
important event worldwide, and with the NBA over, no hockey,
no football and pre-All-Star baseball, it has a visibility
unto itself" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 1/19).
