The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which operates the Wimbledon tennis championships, has played down reports that coverage of the tournament could be shown on pay-television broadcaster BT Sport.
Multiple reports yesterday (Tuesday) morning suggested that UK public-service broadcaster the BBC, which has exclusive domestic rights for the event through to 2017, had held talks about sharing coverage with a pay-television broadcaster.
The BBC already shares coverage of football’s FA Cup with BT, and the pay-television operator is looking to boost its rights portfolio after having secured rights to the Women’s Tennis Association Tour.
“The AELTC confirms categorically that there is no truth in media reports regarding BT and future Wimbledon TV rights,” the operator of Wimbledon said. “We have an exclusive TV rights agreement with the BBC up to The Championships 2017 and the timing and process of any future negotiations will be entirely led by the AELTC.”