The money of licence fee payers was at risk of being wasted when the BBC paid more than £1m to broadcast FA Cup matches on Radio 5Live, the Corporation’s regulator has ruled. Responding to a complaint from TalkSPORT, 5 Live’s commercial rival, the BBC Trust said that the corporation had not ensured with ‘sufficient rigour’ that the amount it had bid ‘represented value for money’. The BBC controls the radio broadcast rights to all FA Cup matches until 2012, as part of a four year agreement with the Football Association.
The money of licence fee payers was at risk of being wasted when the BBC paid more than £1m to broadcast FA Cup matches on Radio 5Live, the Corporation’s regulator has ruled. Responding to a complaint from TalkSPORT, 5 Live’s commercial rival, the BBC Trust said that the corporation had not ensured with ‘sufficient rigour’ that the amount it had bid ‘represented value for money’. The BBC controls the radio broadcast rights to all FA Cup matches until 2012, as part of a four year agreement with the Football Association. Although the BBC is regularly outbid for television football rights by BSkyB and ITV, its position in radio is much stronger. Its only serious competitor is TalkSPORT, but the BBC has much more money available. 5Live and 5 Live Sports Extra have editorial budgets totalling £59.1m, well ahead of TalkSPORT’s budget, which is closer to £12m.
Related Articles
TV Companies Want to Cut Cost of FA Contract – 09/03/2009
Following significant falls in revenue and profits, ITV is seeking to renegotiate its contract with the Football Association…
ITV and Setanta Win TV Deal – 30/03/2007
The BBC’s and Sky’s eight year grip on the rights for FA Cup and England home matches has been ended by a joint bid by ITV and Setanta that is worth £106m more a year…