Seven to serve up Wimbledon
Last year Nine dumped Wimbledon because it didn't rate, but today Seven comes to the rescue for tennis fans.
- Published by David Knox
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Wimbledon is set to return to Free to Air Television on Channel Seven.
Seven today announced it has signed an agreement with The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in a multiple-year deal.
Seven will have first selection on the ‘best two matches’ of each day’s play through to and including the quarter-finals plus exclusive coverage of the singles semi-finals and finals and doubles finals in the Ladies’ and Men’s Championships.
A statement says, “Seven is planning extensive coverage of the Championships across its digital broadcast television platform in primetime, which will include live telecasts from the start of play on one of its multi-channels.”
Mick Desmond, Commercial Director of The All England Club, said: “We are delighted to be announcing this partnership with Seven. This agreement allows sports fans across Australia to enjoy Seven’s creative approach to bringing alive the stories and the colour of The Championships, while the development of multi-media and wireless platforms will provide viewers with an improved choice of how to access all the on and off court action and drama.”
Seven’s Head of Sport, Saul Shtein added: “Wimbledon is one of the world’s great sports events and Seven looks forward to being the network that delivers Australians the broadest possible coverage of The Championships on broadcast television.”
Seven is currently in discussions with the Office of the Minister for Communications on its broadcast plans for Wimbledon ahead of the new anti-siphining list being legislated.
Wimbledon was previously broadcast on Free to Air by Nine which ended its association last June after claiming it was no longer rating well. It has also screened on FOX Sports.
This year’s Championship commences on 20 June.
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60 Responses
Well done seven but please, please, please dont let Johanna Griggs near the camera. Please.
The worst thing that could happen on the night of the Men’s Singles final for Perth is that Seven show Dancing with the Stars in full from 7.30-9.30pm, then the Men’s Final on delay like what they treat us during the Australian Open in January. Better show the broadcast live nationally and in High Definition on 7Mate in Perth!!!!!!
I hope it is not on 7 mate coz regional wa does not get it
This is absolutely the worst possible outcome for decent coverage of Wimbledon this year, channel 7 are useless! Sport on TV is about watching it live, not delayed by 30 mins of 3 hours. For years we get shafted in Perth with major sporting events on free to air tv, look at the Aus open this year, I wasn’t able to watch any of the quarters, semis or finals live, I mean WTF? This is 2011 not 1972, we want it live. Perth is probably the only major city on this entire planet where I wasn’t able to watch the 2011 Aus open live, it defies belief! If you aren’t going to show it live, give it to someone that will, like Fox Sports! I could do a better job than Channel 7 with a toothpick and cardboard box in by shed. This is why people are illegally downloading more and more TV content because the 7, 9 and 10 are Crap. Show it live you idiots, or let Fox sports show it. You can still delay your coverage by 4 hours if you wish. Not happy.
Didn’t mentioned it on Sports Tonight, nor its website. Heard it on their facebook status. Sad news for ONE which should be scrapped for the AFL Network.
@Brekkie , thanks , i guess they didn’t want it anymore , i was wrong.
Col – don’t know the full details but I suspect One have been able to get out of it due to a legal wrangle in India over who actually owns the rights to sell on which technically nullified many existing details.
This is great news! Good decision Seven.
Good on 7 – it takes a lot for me to say that
Kudos for using Digital networks so that East Coast viewers will see play from 9pm rather than whatever time the Footy Show decided to end…
@Big V , wheres it say ONEHD are dropping the IPL , i thought they had it for 5 years.
Slightly off topic, why did One drop the IPL just days before the tournament starts?
Keep Johanna Griggs away please, she’s so annoying on the Aus Open telecasts….
Awful news. More tennis on multi-hour delay for those of us out west.
@Jerome – heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio/seven-snatches-wimbledon-tennis-coverage/story-e6frf9ho-1226033315376
15mill over 5 years i believe
Thank god! I’m a huge tennis fan and was really disappointed when Nine terminated the contract. Yeah, the ratings weren’t really good, but the matches start at 10pm, and the marquee ones start at 12 midnight, its hard to get good ratings under these conditions!
Hopefully Seven can do a better job in covering the event.
Hope Seven doesn’t screen infotainment programme such has Home Shopping at 2am during play in the East Coast as Perth can cover the broadcast from 8.30pm to 1.30pm on 7Mate and highlights on Seven during the day.
Awesome news!
Way to stuff up another grand slam. Leave it on Fox and let them show this great event the way the public deserves.
Why Wimbledon? Australians don’t do well on grass courts. Should be USOpen or Roland Garros. Aussies FTW.
Best news i have heard all day.
They will chop it off each night around 2am so as to keep screening infomercials.
The good news of today is that Seven has snatched the rights for Wimbledon and broadcasting it on their multichannels live hopefully, but the bad news is that ONE is dropping their IPL coverage in 2011 so Australia will not get ANY IPL coverage at all.
Who cares
@Vladivostok: 9 was paying $15mil? Do you have a source? I seriously doubt it.
Wow, Seven actuall doing something right for a change.
As long as it is live into WA on 7mate…