Tennis on NBC

Tennis on NBC
Genre	Tennis telecasts
Presented by	See list of commentators
Theme music composer	Clark Gault (opening theme) Keith Mansfield (end theme)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	60
Production
Executive producer(s)	Don Ohlmeyer
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	180 minutes or until tournament ends
Production company(s)	NBC Sports
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	1955-1961 (US Nationals) 1969-2011 (Wimbledon) 1975-1979, 1983-present (French Open)
External links
Website

Tennis on NBC is the de facto branding used for broadcasts of major professional tennis tournaments that are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. The network has broadcast tennis events since 1955.

The network's tennis coverage runs normally airs during the afternoon; however for several weeks in the summer, its Sunday coverage during the morning hours of Grand Slam tennis tournaments may start as early as 8:00 a.m., resulting in the pre-emption of regular programming on that day (such as the political talk show Meet the Press).

NBC broadcast the US Nationals as early as 1955 and at least up until 1961. Bud Palmer, Jack Kramer, Lindsey Nelson, Don Budge, Bill Stern and Bill Talbert were among the commentators during this period.

NBC broadcast The Championships, Wimbledon beginning 1969. Americans had made a tradition of NBC's "Breakfast at Wimbledon" specials during the tournament on weekends, in which live coverage (which under the guidance of then-NBC Sports executive producer Don Ohlmeyer and associate producer Bob Basche, began in 1979 for the men's rounds and in 1982 for the women) started early in the morning (as the Eastern Time Zone in the United States is five hours behind the United Kingdom) and continued well into the afternoon, interspersed with commentary and interviews from Bud Collins, whose tennis acumen and (in)famous patterned trousers are well-known to tennis fans in the U.S. Collins was fired by NBC in 2007, but was promptly hired by ESPN, which holds the Wimbledon cable rights. For many years, NBC's primary host was Dick Enberg, who called his 28th and final Wimbledon in 2011.

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Wikipedia