Tennis on television contains the current status and historical evolution of the television broadcasting of the sport of Tennis.
Grand Slam events Eurosport has the exclusive UK rights to the French Open until 2026, having had them exclusively since 2022. Prior to this, they had shared the rights with ITV Sport. where the bulk of the daily coverage had broadcast on ITV4 although both singles finals plus other weekend matches were aired on ITV. John Inverdale hosted the coverage. Commentators include Jim Courier, Amélie Mauresmo, Sam Smith, Mark Petchey, Nick Mullins and Fabrice Santoro.
Studio presentation for the French Open on Eurosport is hosted by Annabel Croft with the segment Hawk-Eye presented by former British Number 2 Jason Goodall. (Goodall was briefly ranked ahead of Chris Bailey, Nick Brown, Andrew Castle, Nick Fulwood, Mark Petchey, and James Turner, in May 1989).
BBC Sport holds the rights to broadcast the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the Queen's Club Championships live on its television platforms. The Wimbledon contract has been held by the BBC since 1927 and the current contract lasts until 2024 making it the longest such contract in the world. The BBC produce over 900 hours of footage that is distributed to broadcasters in 159 different countries.Wimbledon Website - The Championships and The All England Lawn Tennis Club BBC Wimbledon coverage is presented by former British number one and 1976 French Open Champion Sue Barker. Matches are broadcast live on BBC One, BBC Two, the Red Button, or Online via the BBC Sport website. Highlights are also shown on the long-running Today at Wimbledon, presented by Clare Balding, who replaced John Inverdale in 2015. The same year, the programme was renamed "Wimbledon 2day", with a new lighthearted magazine format, but after only one year, the format has been abandoned for 2016.
ESPN took full control of televising the US Open in 2015. When taking over, ESPN ended 47 years of coverage produced and aired by CBS. ESPN uses ESPN and ESPN2 for broadcasts, while putting outer court coverage on ESPN+. In the UK, Sky Sports had shown the event from 1991 until 2015 but decided not to renew its contract to broadcast this event and the rights later went to Amazon Prime. Sky decided to return to tennis in 2023 when it regained the rights to the event. This bid was successful and Sky will now show the tournament until 2027.US Open Tennis Championships returning to Sky Sports in 2023
Historical breakdown 1930s-1940s Since 1937 the BBC has broadcast the Wimbledon tournament on television in the UK. The matches covered are primarily split between its two main terrestrial channels, BBC One and BBC Two, and their Red Button service. This can result in live matches being moved across all 3 channels. The BBC holds the broadcast rights for Wimbledon until 2027. During the days of British Satellite Broadcasting, its sports channel carried extra coverage of Wimbledon for subscribers. The original commentator on TV at Wimbledon was Freddie Grisewood up until 1954. One of the most notable British commentators was Dan Maskell, who was known as the BBC's "voice of tennis". Maskell commentated on TV at Wimbledon from 1951 until his retirement in 1991. John Barrett succeeded him in that role until he retired in 2006. Current commentators working for the BBC at Wimbledon include British ex-players Andrew Castle, John Lloyd, Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Samantha Smith and Mark Petchey; tennis legends such as John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Boris Becker and Lindsay Davenport; and general sports commentators including Andrew Cotter and Nick Mullins. The coverage is presented by Sue Barker (live) and Clare Balding (highlights). Previous BBC presenters include Des Lynam, David Vine, John Inverdale and Harry Carpenter.
NBC's relationship with tennis dates as far back as August 9, 1939. While at the amateur Eastern Grass Court Championships, in Rye, New York, NBC broadcast the first ever televised tennis match.
1950s NBC made history again at the 1955 Davis Cup, where they televised the first tennis match (United States vs. Australia) in color.
NBC broadcast the US Nationals as early as 1952 and up until 1964. Bud Palmer, Jack Kramer, Lindsey Nelson, Don Budge, Bill Stern and Bill Talbert were among the commentators during this period.
ITV showed live coverage of Wimbledon from 1956 to 1968, with Fred Perry as their lead commentator (Perry's great friend Dan Maskell was the lead commentator on the BBC's coverage throughout this period). ITV broadcast Wimbledon for fewer hours each day than BBC and had advertisements, which the BBC did not have.Fred Perry: An autobiography (1984), p. 191
1960s In the United States, ABC began showing taped highlights of the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles Final in 1963 on its Wide World of Sports series. ABC also covered the US Championships from 1965 to 1967, taking over from NBC.
Regular telecasts of the later stages of the Australian championships in Australia began in the mid 1960s. Channel 2 broadcast the 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1971 events. Channel 9 broadcast the 1969 event.
CBS Sports broadcast the first US Open Tennis Championships in 1968. Bud Collins called the action alongside Jack Kramer.
James Wall (best known for playing Mr. Baxter on Captain Kangaroo) was also the stage manager for 41 consecutive years on the US Open Tennis Championships telecasts.
NBC began a 43-year run of covering Wimbledon in 1969, with same-day taped (and often edited) coverage of the Gentlemen's Singles Final.
1970s From 1973 to 2018, the Seven Network served as the host broadcaster of the Australian Open. In March 2018, it was announced that the Nine Network had acquired the rights to the tournament beginning in 2020, for a period of five years. The network later bought the rights for the 2019 tournament as well. The Open's broadcast rights are lucrative in the country, as it occurs near the end of the Summer non-ratings season — which gives its broadcaster opportunities to promote their upcoming programming lineup.
NBC's coverage of the French Open began in 1975. Other than a three-year stint for the tournament on CBS, NBC has remained the U.S. broadcast television home of the French Open since 1983. The network shows weekend morning early-round matches in the afternoon on tape-delay; however, if a match is still being played, it will televise the match live. NBC's current deal for the tournament does not allow ESPN2 or Tennis Channel to show NBC's tape-delayed matches. NBC also tape-delays the men's semifinal, broadcasting it in the late morning on the same day, however it broadcasts both finals live.
Also in 1975, HBO began airing coverage (same day, weekday coverage only) of Wimbledon and did so until 1999.
Meanwhile, in 1975, the WTA increased its financial stature by signing a television broadcast contract with CBS, the first in the WTA's history. Further financial developments ensued.
In 1978, Hughes televised eight tournaments, all slotted for 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 5 to 7 p.m. on Sundays (all Eastern time). The telecasts were sold to commercial stations on an individual market basis by Taft Broadcasting. The announcers for these broadcasts were Bud Collins and Donald Dell.
BBC Television broadcast the 1977 and 1978 US Open finals (it did not broadcast the event again until 1981).
The BBC broadcasts two traditional Grass warm up events in the fortnight before the Wimbledon Championships. First is the AEGON Championships from Queen's Club, which takes place two weeks before Wimbledon. The BBC has covered the tournament since 1979 and has a contract in place until 2024. Coverage is led by Sue Barker with commentary by Andrew Castle, Andrew Cotter, John Lloyd & Peter Fleming. The following week is the WTA AEGON International event from Eastbourne. In 2015, coverage was introduced by John Inverdale and Lee McKenzie with commentary from Andrew Cotter, Sam Smith, Chris Bradnam & Annabel Croft. Both events are primarily shown on BBC Two.
Americans had made a tradition of NBC's "Breakfast at Wimbledon" specials during the tournament on weekends, in which live coverage (which under the guidance of then-NBC Sports executive producer Don Ohlmeyer and associate producer Bob Basche, began in 1979 for the men's rounds and in 1982 for the women) started early in the morning (as the Eastern Time Zone in the United States is five hours behind the United Kingdom) and continued well into the afternoon, interspersed with commentary and interviews from Bud Collins, whose tennis acumen and patterned trousers are well known to tennis fans in the United States. Collins was fired by NBC in 2007, but was promptly hired by ESPN, which holds the Wimbledon cable rights. For many years, NBC's primary host was Dick Enberg, who called his 28th and final Wimbledon in 2011.
1980s The BBC began televising the French Open finals in 1981 (they continued to broadcast the event until 2011) and the finals of the US Open from 1977 until 1987. Channel Four broadcast the US Open finals in 1988. The event returned to UK screens in 1991 when coverage moved to Sky Sports, who broadcast the event for the next 25 years. the BBC televised the later stages of the 1989 Australian Open (they next covered the event in 1995).
From 1980 to 1982, CBS televised the French Open (sandwiched in-between stints at NBC).
In 1982, CBS debuted "Super Saturday". The Men's Semifinals sandwiched the Women's Final, with the first semifinal match starting at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
For the past few decades, the National Football League had always let CBS be the "singleheader" network during the week it televised the Men's US Open Tennis final at 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time around the country (CBS has said that it could not justify putting the Men's US Open Final on Sunday night in terms of ratings; the women's final, broadcast on a Saturday night, often outrated the men's final by a considerable margin, except when at least one American plays in the men's final).
All the courts used by the U.S. Open are lighted, meaning that television coverage of the tournament can extend into prime time to attract higher ratings. This has recently been used to the advantage of the USA Network cable channel and especially for CBS, which used its influence to move the women's singles final to Saturday night to draw higher viewership.
In 1983, Beth Herr lost an epic match to Billie Jean King at Wimbledon 8–6 in the 3rd. Commentators on HBO Breakfast at Wimbledon made a very big deal out of her ability to hit numerous swinging volleys out of the air for winners. This was something that had not been done before especially by a female.
Beginning in 1984, the USA Network served as the longtime American cable home of the US Open, which moved to ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel as of 2009. Universal HD provided the high definition simulcast of USA Network's coverage of the US Open tennis tournament in 2006 and 2007.
On September 11, 1987, Dan Rather walked off the set in anger just before a remote broadcast of the CBS Evening News when it appeared that CBS's coverage of a U.S. Open semifinal match between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil was going to run into time allotted for the network news program. Rather was in Miami covering the visit to the city by Pope John Paul II, who began a rare U.S. tour. The tennis match ended at 6:32 p.m. Eastern Time, however Rather was nowhere to be found. Over 100 affiliates broadcast the six minutes of dead air that followed before he returned to the broadcast position. Rather later suggested that he intended to force the sports division to fill up the entire half-hour so that he would not have to truncate the elaborately planned coverage of the papal visit. The next day, Rather, anchoring from New Orleans, apologized for leaving the anchor desk.