13 hours ago
BBC move iconic programme to permanent graveyard slot and opt to air repeats instead
The BBC 's flagship Wimbledon highlights show Today at Wimbledon has been relegated to a graveyard television slot.
The 61-year-old show is being moved from a prime 8pm or 9pm BBC2 airing time to 11.55pm by the broadcaster.
Critics have accused the BBC of essentially making it 'Yesterday at Wimbledon'.
The 60-minute programme will first be shown just five minutes before midnight on Monday when the tournament starts.
It has been shoved into an antisocial slot with the BBC instead opting to air repeats of Your Garden Made Perfect, The Pembrokeshire Coast: A Wild Year, and Upstart Crow between 8pm-10.30pm next Monday.
The move is not a one-off and it will be permanently aired at the unsociable hour, according to The Telegraph.
Today at Wimbledon is the only way which many tennis fans can tune in to watch highlights, with some viewers, particularly in rural areas, unable to access BBC's website or iPlayer.
A BBC spokesperson defended the change, claiming it would still be broadcast at its traditional time on iPlayer and its later showing on television would be as a 'repeat'.
'Live Wimbledon coverage is scheduled to air on BBC One or BBC Two until 10pm in the first week, and until 9pm from the second week, when matches typically finish earlier,' they added.
The BBC's controversial move comes after its recent blunder which saw it fail to televise Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter's doubles match at Queen's.
The pair took to the court for the first match of their budding doubles partnership as women's tennis returned to The Queen's Club for the first time in 52 years earlier this month.
But British audiences were unable to watch the match against Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu, with the BBC forced to offer an apology after angry viewers failed to find the match either on terrestrial or iPlayer.
'Unfortunately we won't be able to show you this match because we are focused on Andy Murray Arena, but we will be bringing you updates throughout the course of the afternoon,' BBC commentary announced shortly before the start of the match on Court One.
Mail Sport understands that the decision taken to show Raducanu and Boulter on the 1,000-seat occupancy Court One rather than the 7,700-strong Andy Murray Arena - where matches are televised - was made in line with the Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) contractual obligation with the WTA.
