Eurosport serves up Wimbledon rights
June 16, 2016
Eurosport has secured a five-year agreement with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) to show live simulcast coverage in the UK of the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles finals and daily 90 minute highlights shows for the duration of The Championships, Wimbledon.
The partnership with Eurosport has been agreed in line with UK comms regulator Ofcom’s Listed Events regulations, which entitles a secondary broadcaster to acquire certain rights alongside the primary broadcaster, which in the case of The Championships is the BBC. Eurosport is now the only channel in the UK to show live coverage of all four of the sport’s major singles prizes.
Earlier this year, Eurosport achieved its best ever ratings with its exclusive live coverage of the Australian Open Men’s Final peaking at 1.1 million viewers. The Championships will be broadcast between Eurosport’s coverage of Roland-Garros, which concluded earlier this month with singles victories for Novak Djokovic and Garbiñe Muguruza and the upcoming coverage of the US Open starting 29 August 2016.
Susanna Dinnage, EVP and MD, Discovery Networks UK and Ireland said: “It is fantastic to offer fans the chance to watch one of the most iconic events in British sport on Eurosport for the first time. Adding the Wimbledon rights means we now have live coverage of all four top tournaments and cements our position as the Home of Grand Slam Tennis in the UK.”
Eurosport’s popular tennis host Rob Curling will host the nightly highlights programme in the UK from the All England Club from 10.00pm every day of the tournament.
In addition to the four Glam Slams, Eurosport broadcasts the Davis Cup, known as the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ and the five British grass court tournaments that take place in the lead up to The Championships, Wimbledon.
The BBC will continue to broadcast continuous daily live coverage of The Championships in the UK across BBC 1, BBC 2 and online, and remains the AELTC’s primary UK broadcast partner for the term 2016-2020 inclusive