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Wimbledon game, set and match to BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation has beaten off stiff competition to secure complete television and radio rights to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the next five years, the corporation announced on Tuesday.

Neither the BBC nor the All England Club would put a figure on the deal, which will run from 2000 to 2004, but newspapers claimed it was worth around 50 million pounds ($79.47 million).

The last five-year contract with the BBC was signed in 1994 and was reported to be worth 30 million pounds.

The deal, announced on the second day of this year's tournament, will come as a relief to the BBC after it lost rights to the F.A. Cup, the Ryder Cup golf, England's home rugby internationals, Formula One motor racing and home Test matches in recent years.

Agencies