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The Conversation
The Conversation
Richard Jones, Director of Journalism, Politics and Contemporary History, University of Salford

The BBC is axing Football Focus – here’s what it means for sports broadcasting

Football Focus Football Mark Goldbridge BBC Sport EPL Grandstand

The BBC has announced the end of one of its longest-running programmes, Football Focus.

It’s been a fixture of Saturday lunchtimes since 1974. But the final whistle will blow when this season finishes. The BBC has blamed a decline in audience for the BBC One broadcast as fans now get their pre-match news and views from a wider range of sources.

This isn’t a sign that the BBC is moving away from football. Research in my forthcoming book Sports Journalism in the UK, shows that 60% of the content on the BBC Sport X account is now about football, compared to 39% in its traditional sports bulletins on Radio 5 Live.

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