Wimbledon 2006 on the BBC
Introduction
Monday 26 June heralds the start of the 2006
Wimbledon Championships, and the return of BBC Sport's award-winning live coverage of
the nation's favourite annual summer event.
With live and exclusive coverage on BBC ONEand BBC TWO, BBC Radio Five Live, interactive
through BBCi, and bbc.co.uk/sport, you
can follow all the action from SW19 wherever
you are and with outdoor big screens at
locations around the UK carrying action from
Wimbledon, even when you're out and about.
For the first time this year, television coverage
will be available in HD (High Definition) format to bring viewers even closer to the action, and in another first, there will be live streaming of the interactive TV service at bbc.co.uk/wimbledon, available to broadband
customers, giving viewers an incredible choice
on air and online with up to five games
available at any one time.
Once again the unique ball-tracking system
Hawk-Eye and the slow-motion abilities of the
Tornado-cam will give viewers in-depth analysis
of the intricacies of a player's game – as well as
clearing up those controversial line calls.
The TV team
Sue Barker presents the BBC's live coverage
from the All England Club, with John Inverdale fronting the nightly highlights programme,
Today At Wimbledon, which this year is
scheduled for an earlier time slot at 8.00pm,
making it more accessible for viewers.
The BBC's team of experts provides unrivalled
commentary and analysis on the action with
former champions and fans' favourites John
McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Pat Cash, Michael
Stich,Tracy Austin and Virginia Wade bringing
their in-depth knowledge of the Championships
to the line-up.
Barry Davies, David Mercer, Bill Threlfall and Matt
Chilton are back in action in the commentary
box, with 2006 seeing John Barrett in his final
year at Wimbledon working for the BBC.
Also in the winning team are John Lloyd,
Andrew Castle, Chris Bailey, Peter Fleming,
John Alexander, Mark Cox, Simon Reed and,
commentating on the women's game, Annabel
Croft, Sam Smith and Jo Durie, all adding their
expertise to the BBC's coverage.
Adding colour and atmosphere as roving
reporters are Phil Jones, Rishi Persad, Jill
Douglas and Garry Richardson.
Interactive TV
A huge success over recent years, BBCi's
Wimbledon Interactive service returns for the
2006 tournament.
Viewers across all digital platforms are
promised an incredible choice of up to five live
games and features when watching the world's
most famous tennis event.
Digital satellite (Sky) and cable (ntl/Telewest)
viewers will be able to watch the action from
up to four different courts as well as the live
broadcast on BBC ONE or TWO, while Freeview
offers a choice of two extra courts in addition
to the BBC ONE and TWO broadcasts.
And viewers can now plan their viewing by
using the new Scheduler, which shows what
matches will be coming up next on the
interactive service.
Digital Satellite (Sky) and Digital Cable
(ntl/Telewest)
By pressing the Red button on the remote
control, viewers enter BBCi's Wimbledon
Interactive service and can choose between play
from five courts using the up and down keys.
Live commentary accompanies each match, as
well as an updated scoreboard.
By pressing the Blue button on their remote,
viewers can access a menu and choose from
the following options:
News – All the latest news from the
Championships
Scores – Live updated scores from all courts
Results – Updated results as and when they
happen
Freeview
By pressing the Red button on the digital
adaptor remote, viewers can enter BBCi.
From here, pressing the Blue button enables
viewers to access a menu and choose up to
two extra live matches.
News – All the latest news from the
Championships
Scores – Live updated scores from all courts
Results – Updated results as and when they
happen
HD TV
Live coverage from Centre and No. 1 Court will
be available on the BBC HD channel on the Sky
EPG – Channel 145.
HD coverage will be
available to digital satellite and cable viewers who
have HD set-top boxes and televisions.
The
coverage is part of a year-long pan-platform BBC
trial featuring some of the BBC's biggest and best
programmes, from World Cup and Wimbledon
coverage to Robin Hood and Planet Earth part two.
BBC Radio Five Live
Former mixed doubles champion Leander Paes and former doubles champion Todd Woodbridge join tennis legends Michael Stich and Pat Cash as part of BBC Radio Five Live's all-star team as the
station heads to SW19 for Wimbledon 2006.
Annabel Croft, Frew McMillan and Tracy Austin
also return and are among the tennis stars
joining presenters Simon Mayo and Clare
Balding for the tournament.
Judy Murray – former Scottish No. 1, national
coach and, perhaps more famously, Andy's
mum – joins the team for the first time to give
her unique perspective on her son's chances as
he progresses through the rounds, and also on
the tournament as a whole.
John McEnroe makes star appearances as he
presents the phone-in show Six-Love-Six on the
Wednesday of the first week of Wimbledon
and Thursday of the second.
Listeners will be
invited to share their thoughts on the
tournament with the mild-mannered host...
From 12.30pm every day Simon Mayo and
Clare Balding give listeners not only
commentary on the best matches, top-name
interviews and analysis, but also all the latest
from the World Cup, including live coverage of
England's press conferences.
The BBC's tennis correspondent Jonathan
Overend leads the commentary team, with Iain
Carter and Tony Adamson.
Phil Williams will be
roaming around the courts to get listeners the
latest gossip and Dot Rees goes digital again with
her daily blog behind the scenes at Five Live.
Five Live is also undertaking an exciting project
- taking over Centre Court for a live
debate.
As soon as Wimbledon experiences one
of its infamous rain breaks, our team of former
players and experts, chaired by Clare Balding,
will answer any tennis questions from the crowd
in a special Any Sporting Questions?-style forum.
bbc.co.uk/fivelive will allow listeners to
watch Five Live's commentators in action on
the live commentary box broadband webcast
as well as providing live online commentary
from Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra.
bbc.co.uk/wimbledon
For the first time ever there will be live
streaming of the TV interactive service on our
dedicated site at bbc.co.uk/wimbledon, giving
the audience the choice of up to five streams
of live action.
If you have a broadband connection, bbc.co.uk/wimbledon
will ensure you don't miss a shot during the
Championships, as well as providing fully
updated scores, results and news services.
Nations and Regions
BBC English Regions will be providing interviews
and reports from Wimbledon for all 12 regional
TV outlets, and interviews, reports and two-way
pieces for all 40 BBC regional and local radio stations,
including extra coverage on BBC London.
As well as the main singles and doubles events
at the tournament, the service will also feature
the junior and veterans' tournament, plus other
aspects of the Wimbledon fortnight such as
official school trips from across the UK
organised via the LTA.
And BBC Scotland plans its own 'Murray
watch' to follow the fortunes of Andy
throughout the tournament.
Big Screens
The BBC will be operating big screens in key
outdoor locations around the UK, offering
coverage of the summer's hot events – Wimbledon and the World Cup.
Screens will
be located in Manchester, Birmingham,
Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Rotherham, Bradford,
Plymouth and London's Canary Wharf, with
another truck-mounted screen touring around
the country.
In addition to the live coverage, there will be an interactive tennis game available for the public to play at the screens.
Notes to Editors
A full press pack is available in pdf format using the links on the top right-hand side of this page.
CF/NA
Five Live Publicity
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