BBC at risk of losing rights to two more major sports with 69-year tradition under threat

The BBC has lost the rights to numerous sporting events recently and two more may suffer a similar fate.

The BBC could see their 69-year tradition ended (Image: Getty)

The BBC could see its monopoly on Formula One and England home cricket radio coverage broken as talkSPORT explores acquiring the rights to both sports. The radio station has already announced that it has secured live radio coverage rights for England's tour of South Africa later this year, but they're certainly not stopping there in expanding their sporting portfolio. The Telegraph reports that talkSPORT will consider bidding for BBC Radio's rights to live F1 action, which spans back to 1994. They are also seeking to add England's cricket coverage to their repertoire, which has called the Beeb home since the introduction of Test Match Special in 1957. The news comes after the BBC relinquished rights to several sporting events in recent years, including the Boat Race, bowls, the Commonwealth Games athletics and the Rugby Super League.

Liam Fisher, the head of talkSPORT, admitted that while football coverage remains the key focus of the company, they are making a conscious effort to delve into different audiences where they think the payoff will be significant. He said: "Football still is our bread and butter... but we’ve definitely looked to extend it on the basic understanding that, even if football is your first, second and third sport, you are probably into something else as well.

"So our strategy has been to pick off the events where we believe there is an audience potential that sits well with what we’re providing... we’ll cherry pick what we think are the key sports and events that we think you might be interested in." Fisher detailed the reason behind talkSPORT's interest in F1, which has had an exclusive deal with BBC Radio for 32 years.

He explained: "It’s another brilliant set of rights. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t actively exploring whether there’s an opportunity. We think the audience goes quite well with the talkSPORT audience. We think there’s an opportunity for us to deliver really good amplification for it as well."

BBC's Test Match Special faces an uncertain future (Image: Getty)

Should the BBC lose the rights to home cricket coverage, it could spell the end of its 69-year association with Test Match Special. However, it may not be the case after the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) indicated the potential to have more than one radio broadcaster for its home series beginning from 2029.

Fisher claimed that given the BBC's cost-cutting measures in attempts to save £500million, talkSPORT entering the cricket space is "good business." He added: "It’s something which we’ve been really keen on getting involved in more.

"Our tactic has been to just pick off some of the away series. I love cricket. We’d certainly love to do more in that space. And we believe, fundamentally, just as the Premier League have worked to have a couple of incumbents, it would work to the benefit of other organisations as well.

"I think there is room to have two [audio] broadcasters delivering those rights. You’re maximising probably the audience, you’re maximising the money you’re going to receive. And, ultimately, if what is being said about the BBC is to be believed, you are protecting; making sure that there is an audio platform willing to take the rights before the BBC potentially comes to you and says, ‘Look, we just can’t offer what we have historically.’

"I just think it makes good business sense from their point of view to have that, depending on where the BBC sort of ends up over the next couple of years. From the BBC’s point of view I would say they’ll always back themselves.

"Test Match Special has had a 60-plus years head start on whatever we do for home cricket. So they will always say, ‘Look, we back the product that we have delivered really, really successfully for many, many years.’"