ITV Denies Plans To Boot The Premiership
ITV has denied reports that it is planning to abandon the Saturday night football highlights programme that it poached from the BBC for £183 million.
The UK’s largest commercial broadcaster clinched the three-year deal for The Premiership back in July 2000. However, the show failed to attract a significant following in its early evening slot and was moved to a later time after being routinely beaten in the ratings by the BBC (see ITV Relegates Premiership).
Reports suggest that falling advertising revenues and poor viewing figures have prompted ITV to consider abandoning the Premier League football highlights programme in favour of concentrating on live football rights when its contract expires at the end of the 2003/2004 season.
However, a spokesperson for ITV dismissed the reports, saying: “There are absolutely no plans to abandon The Premiership. We are currently looking at negotiating our sports package when the current contract comes up for renewal, but no decisions have been made.”
ITV secured the rights for the Premier League highlights at a time when football was awash with cash, but The Premiership failed to inspire viewers with its lengthy advertising breaks and greater emphasis on electronic gadgetry. After less than a month on-air ITV was forced to change the format of the show after complaints that it contained less action than the BBC’s Match Of The Day (see ITV Rethinks The Premiership).
In its new Saturday night slot, The Premiership became less distinguishable than its BBC predecessor, which drew an average of 4 million viewer at its peak.
The BBC may yet be encouraged to retrieve Match Of The Day, although it is unlikely that the Corporation will be willing to part with anything like the £61 million per year that ITV currently pays.
Earlier this year it was reported that BSkyB is considering paying up to £1 billion to secure the rights to broadcast Premier League football matches, despite facing less competition from rivals (see BSkyB Could Pay Up To £1bn For Premiership Rights). The £1 billion that BSkyB is believed to be willing to pay for the rights is only slightly less than the £1.1 billion that it paid in 2000 to broadcast Premiership matches between 2001 and 2004.
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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