NBC Sports continues to do its part to further the growing list of top-tier sports events available live on the Internet.
On Monday, it said that next month's
women's and men's finals at Wimbledon will be streamed live on NBCSports.com. The network brought "Sunday Night Football" to the Web last year, a ground-breaker for the NFL.
In addition to the
two finals, NBC said all of its Wimbledon coverage, starting this weekend, will be available on its site, as well as a separate locale under the aegis of the tournament. The network said online
viewers will see different camera angles than what's on TV for the semifinals and finals.
ESPN via its ESPN360.com site has carried Wimbledon matches for several years, but those have been in
early rounds.
NBC first experimented with live-event streaming late in the 2006 Winter Olympics with the men's hockey final between Sweden and Finland. Last summer, its NBCOlympics.com site had
robust offerings from the Beijing Games, although in that case, the network was careful to hold some events back to avoid possibly cannibalizing traditional-TV viewing.
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On Monday, NBC streamed
the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament, largely because it had been postponed for a day due to rain. Last year, it began simulcasting the Sunday-night NFL games.
On one level, it seems
a stretch that Wimbledon is now allowing its most coveted matches to be available on the Web. The tournament has clung to traditions, such as starting play precisely at 2 p.m. and refusing to let
players wear anything but white clothing on the court.