Enjoying Wimbledon Online

Whether you’re stuck at your office or you’re away from home and can’t be near a TV, watching sports online or listening via satellite radio has become the best way to keep up with your favorite events.

Ever since high speed internet became affordable in both the office and home, the video quality has become much better. Remember in the 1990’s and early 2000’s when the video was awful and was interrupted? Now, you can watch videos close to DVD quality now. And with high definition, the picture can be pretty amazing.

Last week, I kept track of Wimbledon through ESPN360. It had two channels, one simulcasting ESPN2 and the other was devoted to an outside court. I was able to listen to the commentary of Cliff Drysdale, Dick Enberg, Mary Carillo, Patrick McEnroe and Mary Jo Fernandez. All were quite good. The only problem is that your internet service provider has to have an agreement with ESPN360 for your computer to see the action. I have Verizon Fios at home and Verizon Business DSL at work, so I was able to watch the action. The only drawback was the same promos played in place of the regular ESPN2 commercials. By the end of last week, I was sick of seeing promos for High School Musical, Ali Raps DVD, the UEFA Cup, College Basketball on ABC and the same This is SportsCenter ad. The people running ESPN360 need to update that promo rotation.

With NBC entering the picture in the second week, ESPN360 is not allowed to show any action while the Peacock network is on as NBC is showing action beginning at 10 a.m. in all time zones. So, I’ve had to improvise. One way is to go to the Wimbledon website and listen to Radio Wimbledon for free. I have also picked up Radio Wimbledon as a subscriber to Sirius Satellite Radio and been able to listen on my way to work. The coverage of the tennis on radio has been enjoyable and during rain delays, the hosts will read e-mails from listeners throughout the globe.

Another way is to subscribe to online video coverage through MediaZone and pay either $4.99 for one day’s viewing or $24.99 for the rest of the tournament. I did this last year and was able to pick and choose from five different matches. The feeds are from the host broadcaster, BBC and the commentary is also enjoyable. The BBC employs John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Boris Becker, Martina Navratilova and Greg Rusedski among others as analysts.

However, I have found another way to watch and have not had to pay. Through this manner, I’ve been able watch the coverage from BBC One or BBC Two and compare it to NBC/ESPN. Sue Barker as host has been good. Being able to watch her commiserate with Tracy or Boris during rain delays has been a joy. And the features BBC has had on Maria Sharapova and Pete Sampras are close to perfection. You can see why BBC Sport is considered to be one of the strongest sports broadcasters in the world. I’m not going to say where I’m watching this because I don’t want the site to get shut down. It can get shut down after Sunday, but not now. And please don’t e-mail because I’m not going to make it public. You can try to find it on your own.

I’m hoping next year that Wimbledon will allow online coverage to be free and the price offset by online ads. The French Open is available online and so is the Australian Open. I’m not sure about the U.S. Open yet, but here’s hoping that will be available as well.