BBC may serve up Wimbledon highlights show on iplayer only
THE BBC’S Wimbledon coverage faces an overhaul which could see its highlights programme moved to iplayer.
Last year, late-running matches saw the daily round-up frequently cancelled and BBC bosses want to avoid a repeat this summer.
It is understood that one option under consideration is to make the programme iplayer-only, allowing the evening slot to be taken up by the live action.
Wimbledon matches now start later than in previous years. The tournament pushed back the start time on Centre Court from 1pm last year, meaning that matches regularly stretched past 9pm.
The change has proved unpopular with some players but Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, has said that there are no plans to move the start time.
“At the other grand slams, they are playing far later into the evening. It’s not a particularly unusual occurrence for the players at grand slams,” she said.
Andy Murray played his longest ever match at the Australian Open earlier this year, battling Matteo Berrettini for 5hrs 45min.
The BBC said it was committed to showing highlights but has yet to make an announcement on where they will be available.
A spokesman said: “We are not cancelling the highlights programme. Our full broadcast plans will be revealed in due course.”
Putting the highlights package on iplayer would allow viewers to watch it at their convenience, while BBC One or BBC Two could stick with the live action. The big change to the BBC’S coverage this year will be the absence of Sue Barker, who hosted her final tournament for the corporation last year.
Clare Balding has been lined up as her replacement. The announcement was being kept under wraps by the BBC but Barker let slip the news slip at an awards ceremony in November. “I’m leaving it in the safest hands,” she said of the Wimbledon job. “It’s absolutely wonderful to leave it with Clare.”
Barker revealed in her recent memoir that she chose to retire from the BBC after she was sacked from A Question of Sport and asked to lie about it by saying that she had chosen to leave for the good of the show.
She said that the broadcaster’s behaviour had affected her greatly and left her determined that “this sort of treatment, this lack of care and consideration, was never, ever going to happen to me again”.
The BBC’S previous attempt to overhaul its Wimbledon highlights show proved disastrous. In 2015, it was rebranded as Wimbledon 2day, with Balding required to perch on a bar stool or tour a hospitality suite in the club’s grounds where she chatted to guests.
The changes were so unpopular that the BBC revamped the show while it was on air, increasing the amount of tennis shown and cutting back on the celebrity chat.