Word on the street is that Match of the Day main man and former England striker Gary Lineker may put in a transfer bid from the BBC’s Match of the Day to present BT Vision’s coverage of Premier League matches.
According to Broadcast (login required) BT has received “expressions of interest” from a number of names, including BBC Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker, to present a forthcoming sports channel.
BT spent £738million to secure coverage of 32 games per Premier League season for the next three years, with first choice on 18 of the games. In an interview with The Guardian, BT Vision chief Marc Watson spoke of how he had a “full inbox” of CVs from potential presenters.
Lineker is expected to take a pay cut by the BBC, which recently forced fellow pundit Alan Hanson to trim £500,000 from his salary as the purse strings tighten. Lineker’s contract is due to expire in August, before the new football season kicks off.
In the days of Setanta Sports, former Match of the Day presenter Des Lynam signed up to present the sports channel’s football coverage, before the broadcast rights were snapped up by ESPN.
In the Guardian piece, Watson talked of the bidding process against Sky: “There were no false moustaches, but we had one advantage in being able to approach the auction undercover. Had our position been public … I’m not sure we would have got the outcome we did.”
Recombu Digital wonders if the ‘no false moustaches’ line here is a coded reference to Des Lynam returning to present football on digital TV…
When we spoke to contacts at BT we were told that there would be “no comment on rumour and speculation.”
If you’d like to know who will present BT Vision’s sports coverage and how to get it, why not follow this link to our BT Vision strand?
Leave a Reply