Friday 19th December - BBC Essex

Glenn Speller presenting Football Extra from Roots Hall

League Two
Southend United v Burton Albion - Glenn Speller, Nick Alliker and Adrian Clarke (commentary on 95.3FM, DAB and Blues Player)

Speller and Alliker are sharing the commentary duties (GS opening, NA closing legs) with Arsenal TV and talkSPORT Live's Adrian Clarke the sole co-commentator.


BBC Radio Derby

Ed Dawes presenting Sportscene from the studio

League Two
Southend United v Burton Albion - Joe Shennan and Tony Bentley (commentary on 1116AM, DAB and Brewers Player)


BBC Radio Merseyside

James Mountford presenting Merseyside Sport from the studio

League Two
Tranmere Rovers v Cambridge United - Derek Jones and Andy Doyle (commentary, also on Tranmere Player)


BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Peter Swan presenting Friday Night Football from the studio

League Two
Tranmere Rovers v Cambridge United - Mark Johnson and Doug Shulman (commentary, also on United Player)


BBC Radio Humberside

Matt Dean presenting Humberside Sport from Blundell Park

Conference Premier
Grimsby Town v Forest Green Rovers - John Tondeur and Alan Buckley (commentary, also on Mariners Player)

Gas Player on the Bristol Rovers official website is taking BBC Radio Bristol's commentary on Bristol Rovers v Gateshead in the Conference Premier, as detailed in Ian C's post #999.

Lions Player and Wanderers Player on the respective Millwall and Bolton official websites are producing in-house commentaries on tonight's game between the two sides. Speaking of which...


That should read Millwall v Bolton Wanderers - Brighton were Millwall's opponents last Friday!

When I listen to BBC radio, I hear about listen online, apps, phones, tablets, on the move and so on

I want to listen to commentary tonight, it's on Radio Manchester, it's on FM, it's on DAB, it's online? Of course not. Great stuff.

Broadcasting rights sadly that BBC Premier League and Football League commentaries aren't allowed on-line although I'm not sure how BBC London seem to get around this. The FA Cup is different as the commentaries can normally be accessed via the BBC football commentaries page but not the individual stations websites.

I have to agree,not sure how BBC Radio London is allowed to broadcast football commentaries.
Having said that BBC Wales arre allowed to broadcast football commentaries.
At one time if you listened to BBC Wales when Cardiif and Swansea were both in action at the same time,using your Sky box,you always got Cardiff commentaries and not Swansea.
Not sure if thats the same scenario nowadays.

BBC Bristol is the first local radio station to be broadcast on freeview.
Last week I was expecting their to be a block on the football commentaries or at least commentary on the Bristol Rovers game.
In the end BBC Bristol transmitted the Bristol City v Crawley match.
Maybe some one forgot to switch the switch and block the Bristol City commentary
Lets hope some one keeps forgetting.

Be interesting to see what happens today(20/12/14)
Bristol Rovers played friday
Bath Rugby kick off at 17:30pm
and no game for Bristol Rugby

I've listened to PL online many times on BBC radio

It's a ridiculous situation which should be rectified, I don't really get the reasons behind it

Saturday 20th December

Free Radio Christmas/80s

Premier League
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Olly Wilson & Pat Heard (Updates)
Queen's Park Rangers v West Brom - Chris Coles & Tony Brown (Updates)

Championship
Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City - Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst (Live Commentary)
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion - Richard Hurst & Andy Thompson (Updates)

BBC WM

BBC WM Sport with Paul Franks Live from Loftus Road

Premier League
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Tom Marlow (FM Updates, with Daz Hale presenting Early Kick Off)
Queen's Park Rangers v West Brom - Rob Gurney & Paul Franks (Live FM Commentary)

Championship
Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City - Richard Wilford (Live DAB Commentary in Birmingham)
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion - Mike Taylor (Live DAB Commentary in the Black Country)

League One
Sheffield Untied v Walsall - Steve Hermon (FM Updates)

A Merry Christmas to everyone!

Do BBC WM not have Villa rights to commentary?

Do you almost exclusively listen to Radio 5 Live and not read many posts on here pertaining to other stations?

I'm surprised that you didn't know that most local BBC or commercial radio stations do not hold online commentary rights to league football games and haven't for many, many years now. I thought this was common knowledge, it's certainly something that has been mentioned on here on a fair few occasions down the seasons.

BBC London seem to be a strange exception to the rule, but even they can apparently only stream Premier League and not Football League matches.

Most Premier League and Football League clubs stream online commentaries on their games on their official websites, either for free or as part of a subscription service (in most cases operated by the Perform Group's Player service). So there is a commercial reason for clubs not to grant local radio stations the rights to broadcast their commentaries online.

As for Aston Villa's local radio rights, BBC WM do hold commentary rights but I think they may only be able to do a limited number of live games - hence why on days like today when four/five of their teams are playing, they'll be the ones not covered live on FM or on one of their two DAB platforms. Free Radio 80s is the local West Midland station that doesn't hold any commentary rights to Aston Villa home games (barring occasions when they host a local rival).

Thanks, I know the website Player things exist but you have to subscribe and how many people do I don't know. Something that could be looked at

Saturday 20th December - talkSPORT

Adrian Durham presenting Matchday Live from White Hart Lane with Ray Parlour at Upton Park and Stan Collymore at Villa Park, followed by Call Collymore from Villa Park

Premier League
Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Dom McGuinness
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Nigel Pearson and Stan Collymore, with James Dodd producing
Hull City v Swansea City - Graham Courtney
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion - Tony Incenzo
Southampton v Everton - Andrew McKenna
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley - Mike Bovill and Adrian Durham
West Ham United v Leicester City - Ian Abrahams and Ray Parlour

Championship
Derby County v Norwich City - Geoff Peters
Blackpool v AFC Bournemouth - Alan Biggs
Ipswich Town v Middlesbrough - Dave Rowe
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion - Ian Danter
Nottingham Forest v Leeds United - Simon Humphreys

Rugby Union: Premiership
Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers - Ian Williams

Darts: PDC World Championship 2015
Alexandra Palace, London - Dan Dawson


talkSPORT Live

Premier League
Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Richard Connelly and Matt Lawrence
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Adam Bridge and Paul McVeigh (featured 3pm commentary on international radio stations)
Hull City v Swansea City - Toby Gilles
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion - Tim Long
Southampton v Everton - Alex Crook
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley - Dan Wheeler
West Ham United v Leicester City - Dan Windle

Bundesliga
SV Werder Bremen v Borussia Dortmund - Kevin Hatchard


Absolute Radio

Russ Williams presenting Rock 'N' Roll Football Live alongside Nigel Winterburn, followed by Ian Wright and Ian Stone on the phone-in

Premier League
Southampton v Everton - Jon Champion and Darren Anderton (3pm commentary), with Carl Ralley producing


Today FM

Michael McMullan presenting Premier League Live with Mark Lawrenson between 2-3pm, followed by Fanzone hosted by Johnny Lyons with Mick Martin from Villa Park

Premier League
Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Stuart Arrowsmith
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Ron Jones and Mick Martin (3pm commentary)
Hull City v Swansea City - Grahame Lloyd
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion - Alan Tolley
Southampton v Everton - Ian Beach
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley - Russell Hargreaves
West Ham United v Leicester City - Graham Miller


Newstalk 106-108FM

Ger Gilroy presenting Off The Ball alongside Adrian Barry, Nathan Murphy, Dave McIntyre and Kenny Cunningham

Premier League (as IRN)
Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Darren Stannage
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Clive Edwards
Hull City v Swansea City - Al Ross
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion - Andrew Cheal
Southampton v Everton - Alan Lewis
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley - Nigel Bidmead
West Ham United v Leicester City - Adam Lindsay

They have an app now which allows you to listen on a mobile.

Theoretically...I'm a subscriber and I can't get their commentaries to stream on my Android phone! And I'm far from the only person who has been unable to access commentaries on the Football League Player mobile app.

When they play local sides that would come under the rights of the side the Villa are playing wouldn't it?

I have noticed on Twitter that over the last month that the likes of Adam Bridge, Keith Hall & Steve Hermon have been commentating for Villa's TV commentary.


As you have seen above WM do have rights but they are limited and another reason why they didn't do commentary could be because they can only do 3 commentaries at once.

BBC Radio Wales

Hull City v Swansea City - Mark Poyser and Kevin Ratcliffe (SW FM & SW Wales DAB)
Vincent Tan FC - Ian Hunt (host and updater on MW / Digital TV) Rob Phillips and Nathan Blake (SE FM & SE Wales DAB)
Luton Town v Newport County - Simon Davies, Andy Legg and an annoyingly positioned gantry post (MW / Digital TV)
Wrexham v Dartford - Dylan Griffiths and Mickey Thomas (North FM / NE Wales DAB and NW Wales DAB / Online)
Aberystwyth Town v Port Talbot Town - Alun Williams
Ebbw Vale v Llanelli (Principality Premiership RU) - Phil Steele
Horse racing from Ascot - Aly Rowell

BBC Radio Cymru

Hull City v Swansea City - Owain Llyr and Iwan Roberts (SW Wales FM commentary)
Vincent Tan FC - John Hardy (host) Gareth Blainey and Osian Roberts (commentary everywhere/how else)
Luton Town v Newport County - Marc Lloyd Williams
Wrexham v Dartford - Malcolm Allen
Aberystwyth Town v Port Talbot Town - Alun Williams
Ebbw Vale v Llanelli (Principality Premiership RU) - Alun Jenkins
Ospreys v Ulster (Guinness Pro12) (1715GMT KO) - Gareth Rhys Owen and Brynmor Williams (nationwide commentary)

BBC Bristol / Somerset

A throaty sounding Geoff Twentyman was studio host

Crewe Alexandra v Bristol City - Richard Hoskin and Adam Baker (94.9FM / 104.6FM / 1548MW / 1566MW / Bristol & Bath DAB / Somerset DAB / Freeview)
Yeovil Town v Colchester United - Chris Spittles and Chris Weale (95.5FM)
Gloucester v Bath (Aviva Premiership) (1715GMT KO) - Andrew Sheridan and Tom Bradshaw (95.5FM / 104.6FM / 1548MW / Bristol & Bath DAB / Online)

BFBS Radio

Queen's Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion - Andrew Cheal (predicted a 1-O QPR win)
Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers - Ian Williams
PDC World Championship, Crystal Palace - Dan Dawson

Swansea Sound

Hull City v Swansea City - Dave Ayres (commentary)
PDC World Championship, Crystal Palace - Dan Dawson
Classified results at 1705 - Colin Beazley

BBC 5lSX

Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers (Aviva Premiership RU) (1515GMT KO) - Graham McKechnie (host) *I think* Ian Hunter, Lennie Newman and James Knight (as Radio Northamptonshire)


Nadolig Llawen i chi, a phawb yma.
Last edited by Ian Cleverly : 20-12-2014 at 18:42

Gloucester v Bath (Aviva Premiership) (1715GMT KO) - Ian Randall, Andy Wyman and Simon Pugh (as Radio Gloucestershire)

I hope that is something nice you are saying.

BBC Radio Manchester presented by Jimmy Wagg from the Etihad Stadium

Manchester City v Crystal Palace - Ian Cheeseman and Shaun Goater - 12.45 commentary
Aston Villa v Manchester United - Bill Rice - reports
Wigan Athletic v Rotherham United - Robyn Cowen and Ray Mathias - 3.0 commentary
MK Dons v Oldham Athletic - Graham Miller - reports
Rochdale v Notts County - Joe Townsend - reports
Bury v York City - Drew Savage - reports

BBC Radio Scotland, 20/12/14

Football

Richard Gordon presenting Sportsound on 92-95FM.

Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen v Kilmarnock - Willie Miller, with Liam McLeod conducting interviews
Partick Thistle v Dundee - Chick Young
Ross County v Hamilton Accies - Barry Wilson, with Martin Dowden conducting interviews
St Johnstone v Inverness CT - Connie McLaughlin
St Mirren v Motherwell - Rob Maclean

Scottish Championship
Hearts v Alloa Athletic - Allan Preston, with Paul Mitchell conducting interviews
The Rangers v Livingston - Derek Ferguson, with Chris McLaughlin conducting interviews

Rugby Union

Geoff Webster presenting Sportsound Rugby from Scotstoun Stadium on 810MW, with Tom English.

Pro12 League
Glasgow v Munster (2.40pm) - Bill Johnstone and John Beattie (commentary) with Phil Goodlad pitchside

Just returned from the Crewe v Bristol City match
BBC stoke stated we will have Crawley v Port Vale on 94:6 and crewe on DAB
What I ended up with was Signal two with music and football updates.

Thoughts any one?

Apart from checking more carefully that I am listening/recording the correct station commentary

From reading a football forum, I think there may have been an increase in subscriptions in this era of apps. If the BBC had online commentary rights for every team, fewer people would subscribe to the websites.

Halifax Town have a subscription service even though they are in the Conference.

In places like South Yorkshire, where the BBC radio station covers all 5 teams as well as Chesterfield, and mainly focusing on the Sheffield clubs, and where there is no independent radio coverage of clubs (except Barnsley at home) despite Barnsley, Doncaster an Rotherham having independent radio stations, a subscription service may be more valuable than in places like West Yorkshire, where all the Football League clubs can be heard on the radio.

BBC Radio Leeds
Huddersfield Town versus Birmingham City - also on the official Huddersfield Town website - Gareth Jones, Paul Ogden and Kieran O'Regan
Halifax Town versus Nuneaton Borough - online (on the Radio leeds stream due to number of live event streams being occupied by other commentaries) - Dave Fletcher
Nottingham Forest versus Leeds United - FM only between 17:00 and 17:30 - Katherine Hannah, Adam Pope and Noel Whelan

Radio Yorkshire
Nottinngham Forest versus Leeds United - Mark Wilson and Robbie Blake

I imagine they would, given that I believe Free Radio 80s have commentary rights to all Birmingham, West Brom and Wolves home and away games.

It would be interesting to know whether BBC WM's commentaries on derby games played at Villa Park would come under their quota of home Aston Villa commentaries per season or would be solely classed as a commentary on the away side only (as per their contract with that club) and thus wouldn't count towards their quota?


Thanks for that - I posted on here a while back that Keith Hall has changed his Twitter biography this season to note that he's been commentating for Aston Villa and Wolves' in-house services. I guess Villa must now do separate TV and radio-style commentaries (if they didn't before), with AVTV host Jack Woodward sticking to the live audio side. Indeed going by Twitter, Woodward and Tony Morley were on audio commentary duty for Aston Villa v Manchester United, while Hall tweeted to let us know he was in the TV gantry (presumably for the club).

As I also said at the time, while he still lists himself as a talkSPORT Live commentator, Hall hasn't been used on that service this season and instead has been commentating for BBC Hereford & Worcester on an increasing amount of occasions, certainly more frequently than in the other seasons since he left the Beeb to go freelance - he seems to have been involved in most of their commentaries from Worcester City's action-packed FA Cup run.

What with Hereford United sadly being wound up on Friday, it'd be interesting to know how BBC Hereford & Worcester plan to prioritise coverage of their remaining local teams for the rest of the season. I guess Conference Premier club Kidderminster Harriers and Championship rugby union club the Worcester Warriors will get pride of place on Saturdays, although given their numerous frequencies perhaps Worcester City's Conference North campaign will be the subject of a fair few commentaries. Although I fully expect Hereford's phoenix club to get a similar level of coverage on H&W as United received when one is inevitably established in time for next season.


Out of interest, which local station provides commentary on Barnsley's home games? I know Oakwell 1575AM used to have an RSL license locally but I don't believe it does anymore (although the station is listed on TuneIn).

UTV Radio-owned Peak FM provides live commentaries on all Chesterfield games - which must be a particularly valuable service for Spireites fans, given how the club overlaps upon BBC Radio Sheffield and BBC Radio Derby's catchment area, and thus finds itself well down the pecking order on the former station and in receipt of very scant coverage on the latter station (usually just pre-match, half-time and full-time reports).

One thing I've noticed as a Player subscriber this season - the clubs based in big football areas with multiple neighbours from the top two divisions tend to produce their own in-house service, mainly due to there being a lack of regular radio commentaries on those teams, while sides from smaller counties and/or with fewer local "big" clubs tend to simulcast the (mostly) BBC Local Radio or independent radio commentary services available in their local area. I'm sure that won't come as a surprise to anyone but it is very noticeable.

Only listened to a very smalll portion of my recording of BBC Bristol's 3pm till 5pm slot and they was commentary of crewe v Bristol City.

I do hope it is a case that the football league have sanctioned the broadcasting of football league matches on freeview,and not a case that some one has forgot to
"flick the switch"

Beause it will mean eventually that some football league clubswill be afforded this privilidge

BBC Bristols reception has been very poor recently and the signal struggles to get out of the Greater Bristol area

Regarding the comment that football league matches are not allowed to be broadcast on BBC London on the Sky platform,I swear I remember London based Championship teams playing Bristol City and the games were transmitted.
Charleton is one team that springs to mind.

With WM have commentary right to all games for Birmingham, West Brom and Wolves I think it would be under the away side in order for them to have more Villa games.

While we are on WM after Christmas Richard Wilford is covering on a weekday show for the first 2 months of the year so, I don't think he will be doing commentaries on the weekends unless they have short staffed.

A couple of points:

BBC Radio Bristol isn't the first BBC Local Radio station to be added to Freeview. In the (West) Midlands, BBC WM has been on the platform for a while and has been consistently been broadcasting commentaries. I think they typically go with a DAB commentary when there's a split, although Connor would probably be better placed to tell you which of the Birmingham and Wolverhampton DAB mux they favour when there's a three-way split. So it would appear that there isn't anything stopping them from broadcasting commentaries in this way.

On BBC London, I guess you are referring to my post the other day - just to note what I actually said was that BBC London were not allowed to broadcast Football League, only Premier League, commentaries online. I didn't say anything about the Sky platform - I'm sure what you state about that is correct.


Ideally that would be the case, but it's possible that it may be a term of WM's contract with Aston Villa that local derbies played at Villa Park must count under their quota regardless of any other rights that they hold.

In any case, I'd be interested to know how many home Aston Villa commentaries BBC WM are limited to. Would it be 10 games like their contract with Walsall (both home and away) a few seasons back? If it's much higher, it doesn't seem like much of a cap - Villa will play at least 21 competitive fixtures at Villa Park this season (including the cups), which could rise to a maximum of 24 (if they get to the FA Cup Quarter-Finals on the back of four home ties). They could easily pass over five or six home games on Saturdays or midweek evenings when all four of their top division sides are playing.