BBC blow as pundits quit to sign up for Premier
EDDIE Butler, Martyn Williams and Shane Williams are among a host of rugby pundits who are leaving BBC Wales to work on Guinness PRO14 coverage for Premier Sports, writes Delme Parfitt.
It emerged last week that regular Scrum V presenter Ross Harries and studio analyst Sean Holley are on their way to work for the subscription channel which pinched the rights for the competition from the Beeb last March.
Now analyst-turned-commentator Butler and the two Williams’ are leaving the BBC as well, according to a report on the Dai Sport website by Graham Thomas, himself a former BBC Wales employee.
The website also reveals that BBC Wales have yet to agree new radio rights for the PRO14, even though the first round of matches is under three weeks’ away.
The capturing of the Williams boys is no surprise. Both have established themselves in the rugby media since retiring from playing and are part of a younger breed of pundits that the paid-for channel is said to be keen to attract.
Experienced commentator Wyn Griffiths, who has worked for the BBC and S4C is also joining the Premier Sports team.
The loss of staff is a further blow to BBC Wales who are left with no top flight domestic rugby to screen.
They do have a deal to show semi-professional action from the Welsh Premiership, but that is only a one-year agreement.
The BBC shares Six Nations coverage with ITV and only has a year left of its contract to screen Wales’ autumn international matches.
Sky are said to be preparing a bid to snatch those rights for the 2019-20 season and beyond.
Premier Sports won the rights to host all of the PRO14’s 152 matches live in a development that stunned BBC Wales.
Twenty-one of those matches will be shown on the company’s free-to-air sister channel FreeSports.
The new subscription channel will cost viewers £9.99 per month but will mean every match is available to watch for the first time in history.