HBO Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Wimbledon tennis==== In [[1975 Wimbledon Championships|July 1975]], HBO inaugurated regional coverage of the [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] tennis tournament for its Mid-Atlantic U.S. subscribers. (That year saw [[Arthur Ashe]] defeat defending champion [[Jimmy Connors]], 6–1, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4, in the [[1975 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles|Gentlemen's Singles final]], becoming the first Black male to win a Wimbledon singles title.<ref>{{cite news|title=1975: Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2798000/2798971.stm|website=BBC News|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref>) Initially, the HBO telecasts of the tournament mainly consisted of replays culled from other video sources (including the [[BBC]]); HBO Sports began to employ an in-house team of commentators starting with the [[1978 Wimbledon Championships|1978 tournament]].<ref>{{cite news|title=LIVE, FROM WIMBLEDON, HBO SET TO SERVE|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-06-20-9406200170-story.html|author=Steve Nidetz|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=June 20, 1994|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Throughout its tenure on the channel, Wimbledon coverage on HBO, which was the first to offer weekday tennis coverage on network television, consisted of singles and doubles events from the early rounds of the tournament; [[Tennis on NBC#Wimbledon coverage|NBC]] (which had the over-the-air broadcast rights to Wimbledon since [[1969 Wimbledon Championships|1969]]) maintained rights to the quarterfinal, semi-final and final rounds as well as weekend early-round matches. (Before the arrival of Wimbledon, HBO also carried the men's and women's rounds of the [[U.S. National Indoor Championships]] from 1972 to 1976 and selected [[WTA Tour]] events from 1977 to 1979.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable briefs: Net gain for HBO. |periodical=Broadcasting |page=79 |date=February 21, 1977}}</ref>) On June 25, 1999, HBO Sports announced it would not renew its share of the Wimbledon television contract after the conclusion of [[1999 Wimbledon Championships|that year]]'s tournament, ending its 25-year broadcast relationship with the [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam]] event. Seth Abraham, then-president of HBO Sports parent unit Time Warner Sports, said at the time that the decision was guided by a need to "refresh" its programming slate rather than because of issues with financial terms or stagnant viewership. (At the time of the announcement, HBO paid $8 million annually—under a $40-million deal over five years—to air the tournament.)<ref>{{cite news|title=TENNIS: WIMBLEDON; HBO Won't Renew Wimbledon Deal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/sports/tennis-wimbledon-hbo-won-t-renew-wimbledon-deal.html|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 26, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Bids Adieu to Wimbledon|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/hbo-bids-adieu-wimbledon-154866|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=July 4, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Although ESPN, [[Fox Sports Networks|Fox Sports Net]] and [[USA Network]] each expressed interest in obtaining the cable package relinquished by HBO, Time Warner kept that portion of the Wimbledon contract within its corporate umbrella: on January 23, 2000, a co-owned subsidiary [[Turner Broadcasting System]] and NBC reached a joint three-year, $30 million contract with the [[All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club]] for the tournament rights. TNT (which would be folded into WarnerMedia Entertainment, alongside HBO, as part of the realignment resulting from AT&T's 2018 acquisition of Time Warner) and [[CNN/SI]] (later moved to the now-defunct [[CNNfn]] in 2002, after CNN/SI's shutdown), which would have their broadcasts produced through the [[Turner Sports|TNT Sports]] unit, assumed cable rights to the event beginning with the [[2000 Wimbledon Championships|2000 tournament]].<ref>{{cite news|title=PLUS: BROADCASTING; Wimbledon Deals Total $30 Million|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/19/sports/plus-broadcasting-wimbledon-deals-total-30-million.html|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 19, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=HBO Won't Renew Contract to Cover Wimbledon|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/tennis/longterm/1999/wimbledon/articles/hbo29.htm|author=Jeff Goodman|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 28, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Turner, NBC Double Up for Wimbledon|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/turner-nbc-double-wimbledon-159580|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=January 2, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Wimbledon gets big TV deal|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2000/01/24/No-Topic-Name/Wimbledon-Gets-Big-TV-Deal.aspx|author=Langdon Brockinton|website=Sports Business Daily|date=January 24, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> (Since 2003, the Wimbledon cable rights have been held by ESPN, which assumed full U.S. television exclusivity over the championship in [[2012 Wimbledon Championships|2012]].)<ref>{{cite news|title=ESPN, Wimbledon come to terms|url=https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2003/04/14/ESPN-Wimbledon-come-to-terms/27281050341777/|work=United Press International|date=April 14, 2003|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=ESPN Reaches Deal to Carry Wimbledon|url=http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/espn-reaches-deal-to-carry-wimbledon/|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 3, 2011|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Professional tennis briefly returned to HBO on March 2, 2009, when it broadcast the inaugural edition of the now-defunct [[BNP Paribas Showdown]] as a one-off special presentation.<ref>{{cite web|title=HBO SETS TENNIS TALENT LINEUP FOR MARCH 2|url=https://sportsmedianews.com/hbo-sets-tennis-talent-lineup-for-march-2/|website=Sports Media News|date=February 10, 2009|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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