Euro 2008: ITV will not show final

chris

ITV have decided to withdraw their option to broadcast Sunday's Euro 2008 final fearing humiliation in the viewer ratings war with broadcasting rival the BBC.

The commercial broadcaster studied previous viewing trends during times when both screened major tournaments before opting to pull Sunday's show-piece in Vienna from their schedule, mindful of the fact the last time the pair went head to head for the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France, the Beeb triumphed with five times as many viewers.

Despite ITV not beating the BBC in terms of football viewing figures since 1970, leading executives at the BBC were surprised by ITV's decision and in return handed them the choice of screening their preferred semi-final, which will be Russia versus Spain on Thursday.

After Sunday's final, the BBC will have their football schedule largely reduced to simply showing Premier League highlights on Match of the Day, since ITV and Irish broadcaster Setanta have secured the rights to show the FA Cup and England internationals in a four-year £425 million deal last March, which begins this August.

However, ITV were reportedly rebuffed in their approach to lure BBC's popular presenter Adrian Chiles to join their new-look team for next season and are now seeking to land a new anchorman, in addition to Steve Rider and Matt Smith who have fronted their coverage from Austria and Switzerland this summer.



Source: telegraph