The BBC is reeling from one more damaging hit to its sporting protection.
The BBC has suffered one other damaging blow to its array of sporting protection (Picture: PA)
The BBC has been dealt one other blow forward of this yr’s Boat Race, because it was revealed that it’ll lose its radio protection of the historic sporting occasion, too. The affirmation of Channel 4’s five-year deal to switch the BBC because the TV broadcaster of the Boat Race was introduced final yr, in a brutal hit to the BBC’s sporting protection.
In an extra blow, the BBC has now been changed because the race’s radio companion by Occasions Radio, which signed a two-year deal. Stay commentary of each the lads’s and ladies’s Oxford v Cambridge races will even be hosted on the platform. The Boat Race, which was first held in 1829 and has been held yearly since 1856, marks the primary sports activities rights deal for Occasions Radio.
The BBC had been the long-standing residence of the Boat Race, with its first broadcast protection in 1924, and had remained so, other than ITV holding TV rights from 2005-09 and LBC holding the radio rights from 2005-10. Tim Levell, the programme director of Occasions Radio, mentioned of the brand new collaboration: “We’re proud to companion with the Boat Race in a three-year deal by way of to 2028.
“The Boat Race is an excellent match for Occasions Radio and our listeners, for whom it is a much-loved annual custom. We all know they’ll stay up for tuning in on race day with all the thrill and environment from the Thames and unique radio commentary of the races themselves. We’re particularly delighted to help the Ladies’s Race because it approaches its centenary in 2027.”
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The lack of the Boat Race solely provides to the reported fears of BBC employees concerning the broadcaster’s future, based on the Each day Mail, as its array of sporting occasions continues to dwindle. The broadcaster has misplaced rights to a number of sporting occasions in 2026, together with England males’s residence and away fixtures for the Six Nations.
Alongside the Six Nations, the BBC additionally misplaced the rights to air the Commonwealth Video games this yr. It will be the primary time since 1954 that the BBC won’t be the first broadcaster for this summer season’s Commonwealth Video games. Employees are actually mentioned to be fearing for the way forward for Wimbledon. The BBC do nonetheless preserve the stay rights for the Grand Slam till 2027, however they misplaced the unique rights to the event’s highlights.
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