TalkSport owner UTV Media has called the BBC's plans to expand Radio 5 Live’s sister digital station, 5 Live Sports Extra, "ill-judged and ill-timed," according to John Plunkett of the London GUARDIAN. 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall "wants to extend the broadcasting hours of 5 Live Sports Extra, including 10 hours of new magazine programming a week that will feature weekly shows about netball and women’s football." But UTV Media COO Scott Taunton, in a letter to BBC Dir General Tony Hall and BBC Trust Chair Rona Fairhead, said his company had "substantive concerns" about the plans that come just as TalkSport revealed plans to launch a new sports station, one of three new Talk Radio sister stations. Taunton said, "Such is the seriousness of the threat posed to our company that I feel I have no alternative but to bring our concerns to your immediate attention and to urge the proposal’s withdrawal." The UTV chief said that he had "grave objections" to the plans, outlined by Wall. 5 Live previously "put forward proposals to expand the station" in '11. Taunton said, "If the timing in 2012 was poor, it is disastrous now, in the light of its likely market impact." He said the plans for 5 Live Sports Extra "represent a fundamental departure" from its original remit and would jeopardize the commercial viability of its own planned new station (GUARDIAN, 5/1).
RUGBY WORLD CUP: The BBC secured live radio commentary rights for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The deal means BBC radio will be the only place to hear radio match commentary in full, starting with the opening match between England and Fiji. The tournament is the biggest sporting event to take place in the U.K. since the 2012 Olympics. The action will be broadcast across BBC Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Local Radio (BBC).
