Reason why BBC turned off Olympic tennis final as fans fume at missing Djokovic vs Alcaraz classic
Tennis fans were left a little unhappy with the BBC's 2024 Paris Olympics coverage after the men's tennis final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz was turned off.
Discovery+ and Eurosport has the overall broadcasting rights for the Olympics, with BBC One and BBC Two offering coverage for the British athletics as well as the larger events across the two-and-a-half week sporting festival.
Gone are the days of watching every Olympic event like we enjoyed during the London 2012 and Rio 2016 games, with just one of BBC One or Two showing the Olympics at any one time. Another stream is available on the iPlayer, Red Button and online called Olympics Extra.
But if it's not being covered on either the TV or iPlayer, you'll have to pay for Discovery+ to get your sporting fix. And to be fair, for the Olympics it has a special £3.99 subscription meaning it is pretty affordable if you're enthusiastic about all things Olympics.
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Nevertheless, fans were left annoyed at the BBC after it decided to turn off the gold medal match in the men's tennis singles between the legendary Novak Djokovic and the new kid on the block, the young prodigy Carlos Alcaraz.
With the winner only needing to win two sets in the event at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, it quickly led to a tense bout between the two Grand Slam title winners.
Elder statesman Djokovic put aside Alcaraz in straight sets, winning tie breaks in both to clinch his first gold medal in what is likely his last appearance at the Olympics given he will be 41 in 2028.
But tennis fans claim they missed most of the action after the BBC turned the gripping gold medal match off part way through.
"One of the best first sets of tennis you’ll see and BBC turned off their coverage," one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"Someone needs to pay for these crimes."
Another messaged the BBC, writing: "Why have you stopped showing the mens tennis olympics final half way through the match?! Awful coverage - please fix."
And a third said: "BBC fully just turned off the gold medal tennis match for shooting.
"Think I’d ever pay TV licence? Had to find it on my fire stick real quick."
LADbible understands that the BBC's reason for this was to prioritise medal events that included Team GB athletes.
BBC One broadcast the Gymnastics Women’s Bars final that featured GB’s Becky Downie; the shooting final, where Amber Rutter won silver; and the Gymnastics Men’s Vault final, where Harry Hepworth won bronze.
At the same time, Olympics Extra broadcast the shooting final. When this switched to BBC One, it showed the final round of the Men’s Golf, where Tommy Fleetwood was on his way to winning silver.
The end of the tennis final was then shown on Olympics Extra once those medal moments had concluded.
Topics: BBC, Olympics, Social Media, Sport, TV
Tom Earnshaw