As the BBC eye a deal to share the rights, will BT Sport muscle in on Wimbledon?

• e-mail

The grace of Roger Federer, the power of Serena Williams, the pained determination of Andy Murray — all broadcast free to Wimbledon’s legion of armchair fans.

In an ideal world the All England Club would like it to stay that way, which is why they moved quickly on Tuesday to scotch suggestions that any move towards subscription channels was imminent.

Responding to a report that there had been talks between the BBC and BT Sport about possibly sharing coverage, a Wimbledon spokesman said that they were committed to their near 80-year broadcasting partner.

TV presenter Sue Barker hosts the BBC's coverage at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships

‘There has definitely not been contact with BT,’ he said. The Beeb never comment on rights negotiations and, in any event, their deal to cover Britain’s Grand Slam event runs for another three years.

The good news for the millions who look forward to watching the summer fortnight of tennis without having to pay anything beyond the licence fee is that no drastic change will happen in the short-to-medium term.

However, the media landscape is being reshaped so rapidly, and such are the questions hanging over the future budgets available to the public service broadcaster, that the status quo may not last forever.

The BBC has been around at Wimbledon almost as long as the Centre Court, having started in 1937 with brief flashes of coverage growing to the enormous and slick operation that now hits the screens for two weeks every year. 

Ties between the two institutions run deep and, ever pragmatic, the All England Club, which hosts Wimbledon, continues to recognise the power of terrestrial television. Lewis Hamilton’s triumph over Rory McIlroy in the Sports Personality of the Year, for example, was arguably partly down to the driver’s feats being screened for free far more often than those of the golfer.

But however much Wimbledon’s fondness for the BBC is reciprocated, the corporation is living in more straitened times, and with budgets limited there may come the time when the appeal of sharing costs with a wealthy partner proves irresistible. 

Andy Murray with the Wimbledon trophy after winning the Championships in July 2013

A BBC cameraman records the tennis action on Centre Court at the All England Club in 1999

Such arrangements are already in place with Sky over Formula One coverage, and something similar exists when it comes to the FA Cup. Of course the nature of a short Grand Slam is different, and in tennis specific terms it is more instructive to look at the new deal that began this year for coverage in France of the French Open. 

Roland Garros is covered in its first week exclusively from 11am to 3pm by Eurosport. Then France Televisions, the equivalent of the BBC, joins in, so if you want to watch the day’s play in full you have to sign up to a package that includes its broadcast partner. In time it is conceivable that this could happen at Wimbledon.

The decision on who broadcasts The Championships is Wimbledon’s, although the finals weekend is considered one of the nation’s sporting ‘crown jewels’ that must be shown free to air.

The BBC television edit suite showing all the courts during the 2011 Wimbledon Championships

And 90 per cent of tournament profits go to the LTA for the growth of the sport, so there are no shareholders baying for absolute profit. The All England Club need to make substantial amounts to pay for its latest phase of development, although this will be covered by the event’s remarkable commercial success.

Among the contributory factors to that is the 12-year-deal with American broadcasters ESPN that started in 2012, reputedly worth £300million. It is notable that when the decision to drop co-hosts NBC was announced, All England Chairman Philip Brook stated that a major attraction was having one broadcaster covering the whole thing. 

Yet with the world changing so fast, nothing can guarantee there will not end up being a third party in this longest of marriages between Wimbledon and the BBC.