BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day , Grandstand (discontinued in early 2007), Test Match Special , Ski Sunday , Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
BBC Sport's website is also the UK's biggest and most popular sport website and is increasingly adding video and audio coverage to its scores and text news services.
Due to the public status of the BBC, advertising is forbidden and as a result, sports matches covered by BBC Sport are not allowed to be sponsored, although the present commercialisation of sport makes this almost impossible in practice. In the face of increased competition from its rival broadcasters the BBC has softened its stance and is now contractually obliged to refer to certain competitions by their sponsored name under the terms of broadcasting rights deals.
BBC Sport launched a trial of the High Definition television format of the 2006 Football World Cup in HDTV as part of a wider trial of that format by the BBC. With the official launch of BBC HD, live football matches and golf have led the channel's sports output, and the BBC is rumoured to be studying the possibility of airing Premier League highlights in HD. Roger Mosey, Director of BBC Sport, announced in January 2009 that the BBC's aim "is for all our sport production to be in HD by 2012 at the latest".
BBC Sport Interactive was launched in June 2008 on BBC Red Button, it is available on digital cable, satellite and terrestrial by pressing the red button and selecting page 300.
TV Sports rights
Tennis
One of the BBC Sport's most prized pieces of sport is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. The BBC has televised Wimbledon since 1937 and today produces over 900 hours of footage for display in 159 different countries.. BBC One and BBC Two show coverage from 12 noon until 9pm each day. As well as this digital viewers have the option to view uninterrupted coverage of up to five alternative games on BBC Red Button.
Coverage is presented by Sue Barker, while the Wimbledon highlights, titled Today at Wimbledon are fronted by John Inverdale. Commentators and analysts include Barry Davies, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, John Lloyd, Martina Navratilova, Virginia Wade, Sam Smith, Tracy Austin, Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman, Andrew Castle and Chris Bradnam.
Furthermore, the BBC shows live coverage of both the French Open and the Australian Open, each with the majority of coverage on BBC Red Button and important games, including both finals shown on BBC One or BBC Two. It also provides coverage of all the British Davis Cup teams matches, Queen's Club Championships and International Women's Open at Eastbourne.
The BBC currently holds the broadcast rights for Wimbledon until 2014.
Football
International football
The BBC hold joint rights to show the FIFA World Cup until 2014 with ITV. A near equal split of group stage and knockout stage games are shown, including a semi final, and the final which is shown on both networks. A similar agreement exists for the European Championship. All games other than the final group games, which clash, are shown on BBC One or BBC Two, plus BBC HD. During those clashing games the game not shown on BBC One is shown on BBC Red Button. There are also nightly highlights and extensive interactive options. The Africa Cup of Nations is shown on BBC Three and BBC Red Button.
Some Scotland away games are shown live. The BBC also broadcast highlights of all other Scotland matches. This coverage is usually shown on BBC One Scotland or BBC Two Scotland and simulcast on BBC Red Button for the rest of the UK, though similarly it can appear on the nationwide networks. Similar highlights arrangements exist for some of the Wales and Northern Ireland games.
Domestic football
The BBC also show extensive highlights from the Barclays Premier League. Match of the Day shows highlights of each Saturday's games while the Sunday games are covered in Match of the Day 2 . Football Focus airs each Saturday lunchtime to preview the weekend's games, followed later by up to the minute game reports in Final Score through the afternoon on BBC Red Button and later on BBC One. As the final whistles approach, coverage switches over to BBC One where Final Score continues in England and Wales, with Scottish viewers able to see Sportscene Results at this time for special focus on the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and the other divisions. SPL highlights are shown, also under the Sportscene umbrella on Monday evenings. In Northern Ireland a similar service is available, entitled Final Score from Northern Ireland . In addition, BBC Sport also provides Scottish matches for the BBC Alba channel's strand, Spòrs. This includes delayed coverage of SPL matches and live Challenge Cup games.
Beginning in 2009, the BBC air ten Championship matches live annually, as well as both legs of a Carling Cup semi-final exclusively live and shared live coverage of the Final with Sky Sports. It also shows Football League and Carling Cup highlights shows.
Highlights and live coverage of the Scottish Cup and Co-operative Insurance Cup is also shown by BBC Sport Scotland, and on BBC Red Button throughout the rest of the country.
Presenters
Match of the Day and many other live games and highlights shows are anchored by Gary Lineker, while Match of the Day 2 is presented by Adrian Chiles. Dan Walker took over as host of Football Focus for the 2009/10 season due to Manish Bhasin's move to The Football League Show, while Gabby Logan takes over hosting duties of Final Score, replacing Ray Stubbs who departed to ESPN for the 2009/10 season.
Other football hosts and reporters include Celina Hinchcliffe and Jake Humphrey (who now also presents Formula 1) and Mark Chapman.
Pundits
The BBC's main football pundits are Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer (who took a break from his work with the BBC to take up the role of manager of Newcastle United in 2009), Lee Dixon, and Mark Lawrenson. Steve Claridge joined the team for the 2009/10 season as the BBC's new Football League expert.
Commentators
The BBC's main commentators are Jonathan Pearce, Steve Wilson and Guy Mowbray and BBC Sport Scotland's main commentator is Paul Mitchell. Euro 2008 saw the retirement of the long-standing and popular commentator John Motson from live television football commentary, though he continues to work on Match of the Day and performs frequent live radio commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Regional coverage
Scottish coverage is presented by Richard Gordon, Dougie Donnelly and Dougie Vipond. Jason Mohammad is the host of Wales on Saturday and other Welsh football.
Rugby union
The BBC holds exclusive rights to the Six Nations championship in the UK. It shows all matches in the tournament live on either BBC One or BBC Two. Coverage of these games is complemented by an interactive service on BBC Red Button. The BBC hold additional rights to the Autumn Internationals for the Irish, Scottish and Welsh sides, as well as highlights of the English team; coverage is again on BBC One or BBC Two.
The BBC held exclusive rights to show the EDF Energy Cup until the 2009/10 season when these rights were acquired by Sky Sports. The BBC holds joint right to show the Magners League, along with Setanta Sports and S4C which it shows on Friday evenings on BBC2W and occasionally in Northern Ireland and Scotland and across the rest of the UK on BBC Red Button. Highlights from the Magners League are shown in Scrum V on BBC2W and BBC Red Button alongside briefer highlights in Wales on Saturday on BBC One. BBC Sport Wales/Chwaraeon Cymru also produces the Welsh language S4C's coverage of the Magners League and EDF Energy Cup under the Y Clwb Rygbi brand. This is because the BBC is obliged to provide S4C with several hours of programming a week. BBC Two in Wales often shows Wales national rugby union team under-20 Six Nations games, which are also shown on BBC Red Button in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
BBC Sport's rugby union coverage is currently presented by John Inverdale, Gabby Logan, Jill Douglas. The main pundits used are Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies, Andy Nicol, Keith Wood and Stuart Davies. The BBC's commentary team includes Eddie Butler, Nick Mullins, Andrew Cotter, Brian Moore, Philip Matthews and Jonathan Davies. Bill McLaren was the BBC's main commentator for many years before his retirement in 2002.
Rugby league
The BBC covers the Challenge Cup from the round in which the Super League clubs enter. The coverage is shown on BBC One and Two and will usually consist of two matches per round, one on a Saturday and the other on a Sunday. Highlights of the Super League are shown under the Super League Show title is shown overnight on a Sunday on BBC Two. Produced by BBC Yorkshire in Leeds, the show airs at an earlier mid-morning time-slot for viewers in some of the BBC's northern regions, where Rugby League is most popular. The National League play-offs are also covered on the Super League Show
BBC SPORT | Tennis
The latest BBC Tennis news plus scores, results, calendar, blogs and analysis on all the world’s major tennis tournaments, along with video and audio.
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Skills
The latest BBC Tennis news plus scores, results, calendar, blogs and analysis on all the world’s major tennis tournaments, along with video and audio.
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