Match of the Day returns!

Bannor

Premiership back on the BBC (BBC)

Premiership football will return to the BBC as part of an overhaul of television coverage announced on Friday.

Match of the Day will be revived with highlights programmes on both Saturday and Sunday for three years from the 2004/5 season.

Live games will continue to be shown on Sky satellite television, while ITV will lose its highlights package at the end of the forthcoming season.

Sky's satellite deal is worth £1.02bn, according to Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

The BBC paid £105m for its highlights contract.

BBC director of sport Peter Salmon said: "We are delighted to have won back the rights to the Premier League highlights on Saturday and Sunday night."

He added that the BBC did not bid for any live matches.

Scudamore said the BBC's rights deal was "good news" for TV viewers of football.

Salmon said: "Match of the Day is a much-loved, iconic brand and it is wonderful to return it to our screens.

"We have missed the highlights programme, and it feels like we are welcoming back an old and much loved friend.

"Since we lost the rights, licence fee payers have been asking us when they will be coming back, and we hope that football fans will be pleased that they have returned to the BBC."

Scudamore said he believed the new deal would meet with the approval of the European Union's competitions commission, which had expressed concerns about the selling of football TV rights.

The live games were split up into four separate packages, each of which were won by Sky, Scudamore said.

The most attractive of the four packages with the pick of the best games was sold for £358m, with the other three going for £282m, £230m and £154m.

"We believe the way we have packaged these rights and the size of these -packages has been absolutely in accordance with very pro-competitive needs," Scudamore said.

"They have been won individually, and therefore we believe they meet the commission's needs."

Salmon said 2004 would be "great for sports fans across the UK, with the FA Cup, Six Nations, Wimbledon, Euro 2004, the Olympics, and now the Premier League highlights all available on BBC.

"This gives viewers the best sport output from the BBC for a generation," he added.

SteM

Originally posted by Bannor

Salmon said: "Match of the Day is a much-loved, iconic brand and it is wonderful to return it to our screens.

Is that why the BBC felt the need to move it all over the Saturday night schedules when they had the rights last time? :rolleyes:

Mossy Monk

it always started after the news IIRC at about 10.30pm

Mossy Monk

Celtic and Rangers both had NTL on their shirts, this season both will have Carling. do both clubs have some sort of deal going or is it all coincidence


edit: i pushed new post instead of new thread :rolleyes:

celticfc

Originally posted by SteM
Is that why the BBC felt the need to move it all over the Saturday night schedules when they had the rights last time? :rolleyes:

What ????


Mossy's right. It always started between 10:30 & 10:40.
Their FA cup times were sometimes a little bit scattered.

celticfc

Originally posted by Mossy Monk
Celtic and Rangers both had NTL on their shirts, this season both will have Carling. do both clubs have some sort of deal going or is it all coincidence

yeah, it's an old firm deal.

SteM

I was sure that in the last season of MOTD they moved it around all over the place?

KdjaCL

They did but it wasnt major moving 15 minutes here and there usually to compensate for the previous show.

Great news but im sure i will only watch Goals on Sunday far better program but MOTD is perfect for pub.

kdjac

super_furry

Celtic and Rangers both had NTL on their shirts, this season both will have Carling. do both clubs have some sort of deal going or is it all coincidence

yeah, it's an old firm deal.

Plus if any company were to sponsor Celtic and not Rangers, the Rangers fans would probably boycott the company and vice-versa.

Any word on whether RTE or TV3 put in a bid for the Irish package (one live game each Saturday)?

celticfc

Originally posted by super_furry
Any word on whether RTE or TV3 put in a bid for the Irish package (one live game each Saturday)?

Their still deciding

See here

The Muppet

posted by Stem

I was sure that in the last season of MOTD they moved it around all over the place?

You may be getting mixed up with itv. When they took the premiership first they chopped and changed due to rating being poor in its 7pm slot.

mike65

Good news indeed no bloody ad breaks and no Ally McCoist, Andy Townsend etc!

What chance of TV3 getting the rights for ROI!? *cough*:ninja:

Mike.

The Muppet

What chance of TV3 getting the rights for ROI!? *cough*

Between slim to none id say. Pity it would be great but unfortunately i cant see sky let that happen.

StickyMcGinty

let it happen?? they dont have a choice. its this new bleedin european directive that means the rights have to be fta

DMC

No they dont.

Sky can get that 3pm Saturday game, if they want to. All they would have to do is create an Irish opt-out from the main Sky Sports channels and/or make it pay-per-view. It is the Premier League decision, not Sky's.

IRISH LIVE PACKAGE

How many matches? One game every Saturday.
When will they be shown? 3pm Saturday, in the Republic of Ireland only.
Who can bid? Irish pay-TV broadcasters, Irish free-to-air broadcasters.

There is only two package that are really Ireland sepcific, the saturday highlights and the one above there.

The Premier League only have to show Brussells that the tendering operation was fair and above board, i.e. that Sky's was the best bidder for the packages. Questions may be asked if they are the only bidder, though.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by DMC
make it pay-per-view

could they do that though. Pay TV has always been associated with subscription channels ie. Sky Sports. PPV is always mentioned as being PPV

DMC

Possibly, Live package 3 and 4 can be converted to PPV, if Sky want.