Approved application: Wimbledon Championships 2022

Ofcom has given its consent to a request from the BBC to broadcast exclusive live coverage of non-finals play in the 2022 Wimbledon Championships (“the Championships”).

Coverage of the Championships will be broadcast by the BBC on one or more of its channels, including BBC One and BBC Two. In addition, Discovery has the rights to broadcast television highlights on Eurosport channels. The BBC also has the national radio rights and intends to broadcast coverage on Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra.

Non-finals play in the Wimbledon Championships is a Group B Listed Event for the purposes of the Broadcasting Act 1996. Ofcom's consent is needed to broadcast exclusive live television coverage of the Championships (see section 101 of the Broadcasting Act 1996). If a second broadcaster, in this case Discovery, has adequate secondary coverage of a Group B listed event then Ofcom can issue automatic consent to broadcast without consultation.

Having considered the information supplied by the BBC, and supplementary information provided by Discovery, Ofcom has decided to grant automatic consent to the BBC’s request. Where certain minimum requirements are met, Ofcom can grant consent automatically for Group B events. Details of these minimum requirements are set out in the Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events (PDF, 71.2 KB) (see paragraphs 1.18 to 1.21).