German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF have had a joint bid for the rights to the 2014 Wimbledon tennis championships rejected by rights-holder the IMG agency, according to the Sponsors.de website.
Dieter Gruschwitz, head of the sports department of ZDF, said the two broadcasters applied for a “small package of rights”, but failed with their offer.
Wimbledon’s incumbent German rights-holder, pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland, is said to remain in talks with IMG over a new deal.
Sky’s previous three-year Wimbledon contract expired following the end of this year’s tournament.
Sky rejected a request from ARD to sublicense the live rights to this year’s women’s singles final between Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and France’s Marion Bartoli.
This meant that the first women’s final with German participation since 1999 was unavailable on free-to-air television in Germany.