ESPN and the Tennis Channel will also share coverage of the United States Open Series, the six-week schedule that includes nine ATP Tour and WTA Tour events.
The two are paying $10.8 billion to share coverage of the tournament from 2011 to '24, with the games being broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.
The normal ratio in viewers between the two broadcasters for shared coverage of a major sporting event is three-to-one in favour of the BBC, but this slumped to five-to-one last night.
But the many providers of weather insurance who shared coverage of some customers with Enron may suffer, as they are left to pay any claims on their own.
So far, the Romney traveling press corps hasn't had a formal, rotating pool system, instead sharing coverage of events on a situational basis, such as if the candidate mets with supporters in an area too small for a crush of reporters.
The U.S. military DMSP program covers the so-called morning orbit, DMSP and European crafts share coverage of the midday orbit, and NPP and JPSS-1 cover the afternoon orbit.
For instance, the papers share coverage of the Angels and Dodgers rather than having reporters from each paper assigned to the teams.
The BBC currently has first pick to show 10 live Championship matches a season, as well as two legs of the semi-finals and shared live coverage of the Carling Cup Final.
Les Abromovitz, author of "Long-Term Care Insaysnce Made Simple" (Practice Management Information, 1999), says he generally likes the idea of sharing coverage, but he also has some misgivings.
In recent weeks the BBC has also lost the rights to the French Open tennis to ITV, and the corporation will be sharing live coverage of the 2012 World Professional Darts Championships with ESPN in January.
