Tennis fans call BBC out for chat over play
THE BBC’S live coverage of Wimbledon has come in for a volley of criticism, with complaints that its presenters are chatting over the first half-hour of play.
Tennis fans have grown increasingly frustrated at missing the first games of the opening matches while presenter Sue Barker and her guests make their introductory remarks.
They have now urged the BBC to switch the start of its Wimbledon broadcast to 11am, which would allow it to show the start of play on the outside courts uninterrupted at 11.30am.
The row comes after criticism that the BBC had shown the match between Harriet Dart, a British wild card, and Karolina Pliskova, rather than the start of Roger Federer’s opening match in defence of his title on Centre Court.
The BBC bills its live coverage of Wimbledon as “one of the highlights of its sporting year” and in 2016 announced it had extended its contract with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to show the championships until 2024.
The coverage of the opening day of the championships was temporarily brought forward to 11am on Monday, before reverting back to 11.30am for the rest of the tournament, prompting complaints from tennis aficionados.
Fans have complained that the later start means they do not get to see the opening games of the first matches unless they switch to the BBC’S digital red button coverage.
Eddie Robson, who has written for BBC Radio 4’s Welcome To Our Village and Please Invade Carefully, told The Daily Telegraph: “Lots of people I know find it so annoying that you get all this chatter about the event for half an hour before they start showing the event itself – on what is the BBC’S premier channel, rather than its digital option.”
Mr Robson, who has also written a number of spinoffs from Doctor Who, added: “They wouldn’t do it with the World Cup and miss the first 10 minutes of the match while Gary Lineker chatted to his guests, so why do it with tennis?”
A BBC spokesman said anyone who wanted to watch the start of play could use the red button.