Starting Monday, “Breakfast at Wimbledon” will be in its new home. ESPN is replacing NBC as the official network for the men’s and woman’s finals.
NBC did an outstanding job covering Wimbledon over the years but received major criticism by tape delaying some of the matches. Such will not be the case with ESPN as it will air everything live. If you have access to ESPN3 or the Watch ESPN broadband offerings, that will come to a staggering 800 hours of coverage.
Jamie Reynolds, ESPN’s vice president for event production, talked recently about how the network was going to cover Wimbledon this year.
What’s your philosophy on covering matches?
Reynolds »
“We don’t get in the way of the matches. We start with our voice, the identifiable figures and the personalities that we attach to it, so you have to start with a talent roster and look at the depth, magnitude and the resumes that our group brings to this event, and that’s the voice.”
How do you deal with the first week?
Reynolds »
“When you look at the first week, we treat it very much like a golf tournament in that our goal is to get our viewers, our customers to the most important matches at the right time in a live environment rather than backing things up on tape. We have the ability to weave, to whip around, to run between courts and get invested in multiple storylines and pay them off properly because we’ve got the value of 10 hours to run with. So we can give you that full experience at home of what it’s like to be around the grounds … until the middle weekend.”
How does that change in the second week?
Reynolds » “The second week we take the strategy of getting invested in the matches. As you get further down in the round of 16 through the quarters, semifinals and finals, that target approach is then amplified by the feature elements, the look, the feel, the grandeur of the event. We try to deliver the atmosphere of this event, giving it its just place, its just due, and give our audience the full experience of being here.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!, on washingtonexaminer.com.
