Channel 5 secures Commonwealth Games highlights deal as BBC ends 72-year run

Channel 5 has agreed a deal to show a daily highlights programme from the Commonwealth Games this summer, with the BBC opting not to broadcast any coverage of the event in Glasgow.

TNT Sports secured live rights for the Games last year by outbidding the BBC, which declined the opportunity to take a highlights package after holding talks with TNT.

As a result, the sports channel group owned by the Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), which will broadcast more than 600 hours of live coverage from Glasgow, is understood to have agreed to sublicense highlights rights to Channel 5. The Games will be available on all tiers on HBO Max.

Paramount Skydance, which is Channel 5’s parent company, has agreed a $110.9bn (£83bn) takeover of WBD. This is in the process of gaining regulatory approvals, although that has no bearing on the proposed Commonwealth Games deal, which was the result of a competitive tender process.

The BBC has broadcast every Commonwealth Games since 1954 so its stance represents a significant change of policy, reflecting the financial pressures it is facing and the corporation’s focus on buying clip rights rather than highlights or live events.

The BBC announced last month that it is being forced to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs as part of a £500m efficiency drive in order to tackle “significant financial pressures”, with its budget for sport expected to take a major hit as a result.

Budgetary pressures have already led the BBC to alter its plans for covering this summer’s World Cup, which will be presented from its studios in Salford rather than on location in the United States, Mexico and Canada, whereas ITV will have a studio in New York throughout the tournament.

The BBC’s apparent indifference to the Commonwealth Games is largely down to concerns over the event’s limited viewing figures. The corporation stepped away from coverage of the University Boat Races, which were shown live by Channel 4 for the first time this year, for similar commercial reasons, leading to questions about whether it is fulfilling its public service remit.

The corporation’s director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, has been unapologetic about the focus on digital content to attract a younger audience, however, which has led to a new focus on clips rights, particularly in football.

Over the last 12 months the BBC has bought live rights to Bundesliga football, the Women’s Champions League and the home nations’ World Cup qualifiers, as well as retaining its existing coverage of Six Nations rugby and highlights of the men’s Champions League.

Channel 5 has beefed up its sports coverage over the past 12 months, buying live rights to England men’s cricket T20 internationals, last summer’s Club World Cup and two weekly NFL games.

Channel 5 declined to comment.

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