ESPN yesterday formally announced that it has acquired exclusive U.S. media rights to live action from Wimbledon in a 12-year agreement with the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, effective next year. The deal, which is worth around $480M, ends NBC’s 43-year association with the event. NBC, Fox and ESPN had been competing for the tennis tournament’s rights over the past several months. The deal means that all Wimbledon matches will be shown live on cable, as ESPN has been pushing to bring big sporting events to cable. ESPN already signed deals to bring events like the British Open and BCS Championships to cable, and Wimbledon makes another example. ESPN plans to make some taped programming available on ABC for weekend afternoon programming, including re-airs of the men’s and women’s finals and a three-hour recap during the tournament’s middle Sunday. It also will make matches available via its broadband (ESPN3) and mobile (Watch ESPN) applications. The fact that ESPN is taking Wimbledon rights from NBC, which has been trying to build Versus as a potential competitor, also was an impetus to ESPN’s push for the deal. NBC’s current four-year deal, which averages out to $13M per year, ended Sunday at the conclusion of this year’s tournament. ESPN's previous deal for Wimbledon coverage ran through the '13 tournament, but that deal will be folded into the new deal, sources say, along with ESPN’s Wimbledon deals in Latin America and Canada. ESPN Exec VP/Content John Skipper led negotiations last week in London, along with Exec VP/Programming & Acquisitions John Wildhack. Wimbledon’s ESPN deal is a blow to NBC Sports, whose outgoing President, Ken Schanzer, handled negotiations. Schanzer announced his retirement in May, but told Comcast officials that he would stick around through the summer, in part, to handle the Wimbledon negotiations. The All England Club has had a great relationship with NBC Sports, which had carried the tournament for more than four decades and made its “Breakfast At Wimbledon” a mid-summer tradition. NBC has drawn fire over the past several years, however, for its strategy of showing many Wimbledon matches on tape delay. Just last week, fans were angered when it again opted to show its profitable ”Today” show rather than some semifinals live (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
WE'LL DO IT LIVE: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Andrea Morabito reported ESPN winning the Wimbledon rights "was due in part to the All England Lawn Tennis Club's desire to have a single U.S. network partner for the duration of the tournament, as well as wanting live coverage." ESPN will air all matches "live on an array of platforms, including simultaneous live coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 during the second week's Round of 16 and quarterfinals." All England Club CEO Ian Ritchie "went out of his way to say that they looked carefully at all factors, not just financial bids" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 7/5). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes while NBC "carried some matches live in late morning to the Eastern time zone, it showed them on tape elsewhere." Ritchie: "Live is pre-eminent. Live is the nature of the game now on sports around the world, not just for tennis, but for other ones." He added, "I’m sure there is a place for tape delay and highlights, but the sports viewer wants to see things live." Ritchie said that he had "conversations in the past with NBC about changing its tape-delay policy, but gave no details" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/6). Ritchie added, "We felt it was important to have a single narrative across the two weeks of the championship, and we believe we achieved that through this deal" (VARIETY.com, 7/5).
BIG PLANS FOR ESPN: CABLEFAX DAILY notes while ESPN and ESPN2 are "slated to provide more live matches throughout the tourney, ESPN3 and WatchESPN are undoubtedly up-and-coming players." ESPN3's Wimbledon schedule "will expand to 750 hours from 650, including the semis and finals live." Skipper said that the online network "will enhance its focus on exclusive rather than simulcast matches" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 7/6). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Marisa Guthrie reports ESPN "hopes to have John McEnroe calling the Wimbledon finals when the cable sports giant adds championship coverage of the tennis world's marquee event next year." Skipper: "We've expressed to (McEnroe) that we would love to expand our relationship with him." Guthrie notes while McEnroe "provides analysis for ESPN on the U.S. Open, he’s been NBC Sports’ foremost tennis personality for Wimbledon." But sources said that McEnroe’s deal with NBC Sports is "non-exclusive so he would presumably be free to follow the Wimbledon finals to ESPN." Although Skipper said that he is "very happy with ESPN’s current on-air tennis team, having McEnroe would certainly bring gravitas to ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage." He said, "We think John is very strong. And we’ll continue to talk to him. But I’m not announcing anything" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/6). The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin wrote if ESPN "doesn't include" McEnroe or Mary Carillo for its Wimbledon coverage beginning next year, "we ain't watching" (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/4).
YOU VERSUS US: The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Aaron Couch noted ESPN "may have pushed hard for the deal not only for the boon of bringing a large sporting event to cable, but also to prevent NBCUniversal’s Versus network from further encroaching on its territory" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 7/3). The N.Y. TIMES' Sandomir reported NBC was "looking to combine its broadcast rights with cable coverage on Versus, its corporate cousin under Comcast." All matches "would have been live under the NBC-Versus plan starting in 2014, unlike some coverage that NBC has carried on tape-delay." Meanwhile, Tennis Channel’s share of Wimbledon cable rights also have expired, "but it is looking to renew them" (NYTIMES.com, 7/3). In Philadelphia, Bob Fernandez writes under the header, "Advantage, ESPN: Comcast Loses Wimbledon Rights." Former CBS Sports President Neal Pilson said NBC certainly "didn't want to give it up," but added ESPN "had a combination of cash and a scheduling advantage that made the difference" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/6). Bloomberg TV’s Michele Steele said the addition of Wimbledon to ESPN is a "reminder to anyone in sports media of how powerful the network is” (“In the Loop,” Bloomberg TV, 7/6).
THE LAST BREAKFAST: YAHOO SPORTS' Chris Chase wrote, "Don't dance too long on NBC's grave. Aside from the whole not showing matches live thing, the network did a fine job of broadcasting Wimbledon. ... NBC wrote the book on tennis coverage and ESPN has largely followed it, eschewing the network's usual bells and whistles in place of restrained coverage that befits the event" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/5). NBC tennis play-by-play announcer Ted Robinson said, “It was a great sport tradition … with 43 years of coverage, 33 years of ‘Breakfast at Wimbledon.' And our production, I will shamelessly state, takes a backseat to no one." Robinson: "It was a very difficult day Sunday for all of us at NBC because we put on a great presentation, I thought, of a wonderful championship match and it was extremely difficult for all of us knowing that it was our last time” (“Strictly Sports,” WZGV-AM, 7/5).
