Five Live Secures Premier League Coverage Until 2007
BBC Radio Five has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for coverage of FA Premier League football matches for the next three seasons.
The long-running deal will see the station continue its coverage of the league on analogue and digital networks until the end of 2006/2007 season. Content will also be streamed online via bbc.co.uk for the first time under the agreement.
Commenting on the deal Bob Shennan, controller of the station, said: “We are delighted to have secured the rights to Premiership commentary for another three seasons on Radio Five Live. This is a hugely important contract for Five Live and the BBC.”
He added: “We are immensely proud of the close and successful working relationship we have established with the FA Premier League over more than a decade and look forward to working closely again as we take our Premiership coverage forward.”
Earlier this year the BBC embarked on a spending spree to bolster its sports portfolio, snatching the broadcast rights to Six Nations Rugby until the end of the decade, Moto GP, UK Athletics, England’s home football international games and Premiership football rights for Match of the Day (see BBC Wins Six Nations Coverage Until 2010).
The Corporation’s latest deal pushes the BBC’s sports portfolio to its largest figure yet. Peter Salmon, director of BBC Sport, said: “From Match of the Day to Euro 2004, from the FA Cup to all England’s home matches, from the internet to the World Cup in 2006, licence payers now have a truly comprehensive free-to-air football service for the first time.”
The latest RAJAR figures for the three months to March 2004 reveal an impressive performance for BBC Radio Five Live, which saw its weekly reach increase by 1% year on year to nearly 6.5 million.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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