The future coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships by RTE is in jeopardy according to the head of television sport, Tim O`Connor.
"At one stage, there was a big interest in Wimbledon, now there is very, very little interest. Wimbledon at the moment has a very low editorial priority," said O'Connor yesterday.
"Most probably, Wimbledon will be battered out by two or four people whose names nobody can pronounce, never mind remember. Tennis is not necessarily a thing I would pin any future on in terms of broadcasting."
In tandem, RTE will definitely not broadcast the French Open from Roland Garros in Paris for the first time in 10 years.
RTE's stance may mean that 20 per cent of television licence holders in Ireland may not be able to watch the tournament, which takes place in the last week of June and the first week of July each year. Around 80 per cent of television licence holders are able to receive the BBC signal and may watch Wimbledon on that channel.
According to O'Connor, there are too many big sports events on at the same time. He also cites diminished audiences as a major factor in RTE's thinking together with the cost of covering the competition.
"Wimbledon runs across our World Cup coverage. We are going to do 56 games live from France. The Tour de France is on around that time. The Murphy's Irish Open is on at Druids Glen and also the GAA championship. There are only a certain amount of things we can broadcast," added O'Connor.
"Formula One is where it is at. International soccer is where it is at. The Champions' League is where it is at. Gaelic games, hurling and football is where it is at. Theses are the things people want to see. These are the things they will see on RTE. The audience for tennis has been decimated.
"There is also a high budget for Wimbledon . . . It is one of our highest-cost contracts," he said. RTE would not reveal the cost of Wimbledon coverage.
The probable dropping of the coverage of the event has angered the tennis fraternity in Ireland.
"Tennis Ireland will be particularly disappointed if the competition is not broadcast this year," said Des Allen, chief executive of Tennis Ireland.
"The broadcast of Grand Slam events is highly important in maintaining and raising the profile of the game in Ireland which is growing. There are 125,000 playing the game. Nearly 50,000 people are members of affiliated clubs. There is an enormous level of interest.
O'Connor points to the weekend of July 4th and 5th, the days of the men's and women's singles finals at Wimbledon. On Saturday July 4th, there are two World Cup matches being screened live as well as the penultimate round of the Irish Open at Druids Glen. On Sunday, the golf reaches its climax on RTE, while the station will be covering the Leinster senior hurling final and the Munster senior football semi-final clash between Kerry and Cork.
