Coverage That Should Be Changed Without Delay

choosing ¡ª with first dibs over ESPN2 ¡ª Federer for its time slot. But Federer on videotape? He¡¯s trying for a record 15th Grand Slam singles title and his quarterfinal match is on tape? This is how screwy it gets when two networks and their broadband services share an event: NBC didn¡¯t stream the match live because its broadband window started at 10 a.m., and ESPN360.com couldn¡¯t stream it because it was protected for when NBC wanted to show it on TV.

Karlovic lost ¡ª and so did everyone in the United States trying to deal with this mess.

We¡¯ve heard for years NBC¡¯s reasons for tape-delaying Wimbledon and the French Open: its allergy to pre-empting the ¡°Today¡± show on weekday mornings and past difficulties in pre-empting Saturday morning kiddie programming or Sunday morning religious shows. It¡¯s become so much yadda yadda yadda. I¡¯m sure that NBC knew that those majors were played in Europe when it signed those deals. And I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s 2009 ¡ª technology keeps changing, and fans have little or no tolerance for sports events not shown live.

NBC¡¯s license to tape-delay matches dates to old contracts the All England Club should have changed long ago. Now, the club must require significant change. No fan should have to care that NBC¡¯s arrangements, in its world, or with ESPN, argue against live match broadcasts.

This is different from the Olympics, where most of the component sports