Beginning with the 2018 tournament, an in-house operation known as Wimbledon Broadcasting Services (WBS) has served as the official host broadcaster of the tournament, replacing BBC Sport.[1]
Since 1937 the BBC has broadcast the tournament on television in the UK.[2][a] 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 2024.[4] During the days of British Satellite Broadcasting, its sports channel carried extra coverage of Wimbledon for subscribers. One of the most notable British commentators was Dan Maskell, who was known as the BBC's "voice of tennis" 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 David Mercer, Barry Davies, Andrew Cotter and Nick Mullins. The coverage is presented by Sue Barker (live) and Claire Balding (highlights). Previous BBC presenters include Des Lynam, David Vine, John Inverdale and Harry Carpenter.
The Wimbledon Finals are obliged to be shown live and in full on terrestrial television (BBC Television Service, ITV, Channel 4, or Channel 5) by government mandate. Highlights of the rest of the tournament must be provided by terrestrial stations; live coverage (excepting the finals) may be sought by satellite or cable TV.[5]
The BBC was forced to apologise after many viewers complained about "over-talking" by its commentary team during the TV coverage of the event in 2011. It said in a statement that views on commentary were subjective but that they "do appreciate that over-talking can irritate our audience". The BBC added that it hoped it had achieved "the right balance" across its coverage and was "of course sorry if on occasion you have not been satisfied". Tim Henman and John McEnroe were among the ex-players commentating.[6]
Wimbledon was also involved in a piece of television history, when on 1 July 1967 the first official colour television broadcast took place in the UK. Four hours live coverage of the 1967 Championships was shown on BBC Two, which was the first television channel in Europe to regularly broadcast in colour. Footage of that historic match no longer survives, however, the Gentlemen's Final of that year is still held in the BBC archives because it was the first Gentlemen's Final transmitted in colour. The tennis balls used were traditionally white, but were switched to yellow in 1986 to make them stand out for colour television.[7] Since 2007, Wimbledon matches have been transmitted in high-definition, originally on the BBC's free-to-air channel BBC HD, with continual live coverage during the tournament of Centre Court and Court No. 1 as well as an evening highlights show Today at Wimbledon. Coverage is now shown on BBC One and Two's HD feeds. Beginning 2018, all centre court matches are televised in 4K ultra-high-definition.[8]
The BBC's opening theme music for Wimbledon was composed by Keith Mansfield and is titled "Light and Tuneful". A piece titled "A Sporting Occasion" is the traditional closing theme, though nowadays coverage typically ends either with a montage set to a popular song or with no music at all. Mansfield also composed the piece "World Champion", used by NBC during intervals (change-overs, set breaks, etc.) and at the close of broadcasts throughout the tournament.
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| 1980 | BBC | Dan Maskell | John Barrett and Mark Cox |
| 1975 | BBC | Dan Maskell | Bill Threlfall |
Dan Maskell began commentating on the Wimbledon Championships in 1949 as an expert summariser for BBC Radio alongside Max Robertson, before switching to television in 1951 with Freddie Grisewood. He would remain as the "voice of tennis" on the BBC until his retirement in 1991. When commenting on a particularly exciting piece of play or an outstanding shot, he sometimes used his most remembered and revered catchphrase "Oh, I say!".[9] The last Wimbledon match that he commentated on was the 1991 Men's Singles final between Michael Stich and Boris Becker (which Stich won). The last tennis match Maskell commentated on for BBC Television was the 1991 Grand Slam Cup final between David Wheaton and Michael Chang.
John Barrett's broadcasting career with BBC Television began in 1971. Barrett began commentating on Wimbledon men's singles finals for BBC Television at the end of the 1970s. Barrett's voice was heard on the BBC broadcast of the epic fourth set tiebreak between Borg and McEnroe in the 1980 final (this has often been shown again on TV). Barrett commentated on Wimbledon men's singles finals until 1998. David Mercer took over from Barrett for the 1999 and 2000 men's singles finals, but Barrett commentated on the 2001 and 2002 finals. From 2003, Andrew Castle commentated on Wimbledon men's singles finals instead of Barrett. Barrett announced his retirement from the BBC commentary box at Wimbledon in 2006.
In the United States, ABC began showing taped highlights of the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles Final in the 1960s on its Wide World of Sports series. 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. In 1979, the network began carrying the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Singles Finals live. For the next few decades, Americans made a tradition of NBC's "Breakfast at Wimbledon"[10] specials at weekends. Live coverage started early in the morning (the US being a minimum of 5 hours behind the UK) and continued well into the afternoon, interspersed with commentary and interviews from Bud Collins, whose tennis acumen and famous patterned trousers were well known to tennis fans in the US. Collins was sacked by NBC in 2007, but was promptly hired by ESPN, the cable home for The Championships in the States. For many years NBC's primary Wimbledon host was veteran broadcaster Dick Enberg.
From 1975 to 1999, premium channel HBO carried weekday coverage of Wimbledon. Hosts included Jim Lampley, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, John Lloyd and Barry MacKay among others.[11] ESPN took over as the cable-television partner in 2003.[12]
The AELTC grew frustrated with NBC's policy of waiting to begin its quarterfinal and semifinal coverage until after the conclusion of Today at 10 a.m. local, as well as broadcasting live only to the Eastern Time Zone and using tape-delay in all others. NBC also held over high-profile matches for delayed broadcast in its window, regardless of any ongoing matches. In one notorious incident in 2009, ESPN2's coverage of the Tommy Haas-Novak Djokovic quarterfinal was forced off the air nationwide when it ran past 10 a.m. Eastern, after which NBC showed the conclusion of the match on tape only after presenting the previous Ivo Karlović-Roger Federer quarterfinal in full.[13] Beginning with the 2012 tournament, coverage moved to ESPN and ESPN2, marking the second major tennis championship (after the Australian Open) where live coverage is exclusively on pay television. The finals are also broadcast tape-delayed on ABC.[14]
Taped coverage using the world feed is aired in primetime and overnights on Tennis Channel and is branded Wimbledon Primetime.
| Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| 2007 | NBC | Ted Robinson | John McEnroe (men only) and Mary Carillo (women
only) |
| 2006 | NBC | Ted Robinson | John McEnroe and Mary Carillo |
| 2005 | NBC | Ted Robinson | John McEnroe (men only) and Mary Carillo |
| 1978 | NBC | Bud Collins | John Newcombe |