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BBC And ITV Announce World Cup Scheduling

BBC And ITV Announce World Cup Scheduling

The BBC and ITV have agreed a schedule for coverage of matches in the 1998 World Cup and will not be going head-to-head over England’s games.

Under the deal, BBC viewers will be able to see live coverage of four of the six first round matches featuring England and Scotland while ITV will cover the other two. ITV will then have first choice of the second round-games and the BBC will take first pick of the quarter-finals. There will be no duplication of matches until the final stages of the tournament.

If England or Scotland reach the semi-final stage, ITV will share coverage with the BBC, otherwise ITV will have first choice of the semi-finals. Both ITV and BBC will show the final live.

Date BBC ITV
Wednesday 10 June Brazil v Scotland Morocco v Norway
Thursday 11 June Cameroon v Austria Italy v Chile
Friday 12 June Saudi Arabia v Denmark Paraguay v Bulgaria
    France v South Africa
Saturday 13 June Spain v Nigeria Korea Republic v Mexico
  Holland v Belgium  
Sunday 14 June Yugoslavia v Iran Argentina v Japan
    Jamaica v Croatia
Monday 15 June England v Tunisia Romania v Colombia
  Germany v USA  
Tuesday 16 June   Scotland v Norway
    Brazil v Morocco
Wednesday 17 June Chile v Austria Italy v Cameroon
Thursday 18 June France v Saudi Arabia South Africa v Denmark
Friday 19 June Spain v Paraguay Nigeria v Bulgaria
Saturday 20 June Belgium v Mexico Japan v Croatia
    Holland v Korea Republic
Sunday 21 June Germany v Yugoslavia Argentina v Jamaica
  USA v Iran  
Monday 22 June Colombia v Tunisia England v Romania
Tuesday 23 June Scotland v Morocco Italy v Austria
  Brazil v Norway Chile v Cameroon
Wednesday 24 June France v Denmark Spain v Bulgaria
  South Africa v Saudi Arabia Nigeria v Paraguay
Thursday 25 June Belgium v S Korea Germany v Iran
  Holland v Mexico USA v Yugoslavia
Friday 26 June Colombia v England Japan v Jamaica
  Romania v Tunisia Argentina v Croatia

Despite the fact that the BBC has more England/Scotland games and the pick of the quarter-finals, ITV maintains that it has got “exactly the package it wanted.” ITV’s director of programmes David Liddiment commented: “We decided to go for the option of showing England’s peaktime match against Romania which we also believe to be the most attractive of the three in the first round, in order to bag their key second round match should they qualify – a gamble we felt well worth taking.”

In addition to the TV coverage, Radio 5 Live will be covering every game in the tournament, broadcasting full live commentary on matches involving England and Scotland and all other “key” games.

ITV Sport: 0171 615 1502 BBC Sport: 0181 576 1871

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