ITV is set to launch a raid on Match of the Day’s rights to top-flight highlights as broadcasters gear up for the Premier League auction despite a recent intervention from the media regulator.
The commercial broadcaster, which last held the rights between 2001 and 2004 when it poached Des Lynam and introduced Andy Townsend’s ill-fated Tactics Truck, is expected to put together a bid once the tender process gets under way early next year.
The prospect of the BBC and ITV facing off for the highlights is just one subplot for in a Premier League rights battle that will again see Sky and BT Sport competing go head to head for live games. It is not expected to be derailed by the investigation announced by Ofcom this week.
The BBC paid £60m per year to retain the rights under the current deal, which runs to the end of next season. That helped the Premier League to a record £5.5bn in broadcasting income over three years, fuelled by a bidding war between BT Sport and Sky that boosted the income from its domestic rights by 70% to £3bn.
The BBC head of TV sport, Philip Bernie, said in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month that the venerable Saturday night programme was a “unique proposition” that had “bucked the trend”.
“Viewing patterns change, the media industry as a whole is changing incredibly quickly. But that regular point where people can watch in 80 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday the key moments of the games, it’s a pretty good digest. It’s a great package,” he said.
The rights to top-flight football highlights have switched between the BBC and ITV since Match of the Day made it s debut in 1964, ushering in a new age of regular televised football.
But during the Premier League era, the BBC has held the upper hand apart from a three-year period from 2001 when ITV paid £183m to grab the rights and poached Des Lynam in a high profile move. The Premiership, boldly scheduled in a 7pm early evening slot, failed to meet the high ratings expectations and was criticised for frequent advertising breaks and a lack of match action. After a few months, it was moved back to the more traditional Saturday evening slot.
Back on the BBC, Match of the Day, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, is in rude health despite the predictions of a few years ago that highlights would decline in popularity as a result of real time goal clips and more live football than ever.
Yet ratings have proved remarkably resilient in the digital age and spin-offs such as Match of the Day 2 and Match of the Day Kickabout have grown the overall audience.
Although ITV declined to comment on the story, the channel already has a roster of talent that would be suited to hosting a weekly highlights programme, including the former Match of the Day 2 anchor Adrian Chiles and pundit Lee Dixon. Next season ITV will lose the rights to live Champions League football after BT Sport spent £897m on an exclusive deal with Uefa.
The BBC recently underlined its commitment to football by winning the rights to live FA Cup coverage in a joint deal with BT Sport.
