BBC Cancels Football Focus After 52 Years Amid Digital Shift

Football Focus, once a mainstay of football fans' match day, is being scrapped at the end of this season by the BBC after 52 years. The Saturday lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1974, has been a staple of the BBC’s coverage for decades, but the UK’s national broadcaster says that viewers’ shift to other media means the appetite for the show has waned. The BBC said in a release on Thursday: “Changing audience behaviours mean fans are now increasingly consuming football content in different ways and we need to respond appropriately as we face difficult decisions around how the licence fee is spent. “Fans are accessing discussion, highlights, analysis and news through digital platforms and on-demand viewing and as viewing habits continue to evolve, it is right that BBC Sport adapts how it brings football coverage to the widest audiences across television, radio, online and to its extensive social platforms.” The BBC’s head of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, said the decision had been made before last week’s announcement that it needed to make £500m worth of savings over the next two years. “Football Focus has been a hugely important programme in the history of BBC Sport and has played a key role in telling the stories of the game for generations of viewers,” Kay-Jelski said. “This decision was made before last week’s wider BBC savings announcement, reflecting the continued shift in how audiences engage with football and our commitment to evolving how we deliver content to reach fans wherever they are.” Kay-Jelski added that the regular Football Focus presenter, Alex Scott, would “remain at the heart” of the BBC’s sport output, including its coverage of next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.