Talking Radio: Moz Dee

Moz Dee

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In the first of a new series of weekly comment pieces, Talk Sport's director of programming suggests that non-executive rights deals would help the commercial sector - and the BBC.

As Broadcast reveals this week, BBC Radio has won the rights to broadcast FA Cup and England matches for the next four seasons. Congratulations to the BBC, and to the FA, which has enticed a pretty penny away from the corporation.

Talk Sport took part in the bidding. We carefully constructed a business proposition for the packages we thought made best commercial sense while adding value for our audience.

Packages are groups of matches the rights holder would like to sell - first-choice game, second, and so on. Clearly some are more valuable than others. I won't bore you with details; suffice to say that Talk Sport set a figure on each package that measured the return we expected from advertising and sponsorship, plus any potential audience uplift. It's not purely advertising revenues that are considered, and Talk Sport has not always made money on the rights it has bought.

However, it was always unlikely we would be able to compete with the BBC. Perhaps we could get a few crumbs from its table and become involved with the FA Cup, extending its audience and opening up a route for commercial partnerships.

Having worked for the BBC, I know what was paid last time round. Now on the opposite side of the fence, without breaking any confidences or contractual obligations, I was able to manage my new -colleagues' expectations.

I'm not just another commercial radio executive railing against the injustice of it all. Talk Sport is doing well. But to compete against the BBC we'd have to bankrupt ourselves. We thought it best we didn't and continued to be the home of populist speech in the UK instead.

The FA experience raised some interesting questions. Given the BBC was always likely to swat us away like an annoying insect, what competition was there for these rights? The process satisfied numerous regulatory issues, but in the end it felt like it was designed to extract as much cash from the BBC as possible.

The BBC is often viewed from the outside as an arrogant, lumbering monster. Inside it, there is a feeling that given the slightest prod, the corporation would apologise for its very existence. But that doesn't prevent it from being quick to reach for the chequebook. Its bid for the FA Cup and England matches is no exception.

The difference between our bid and theirs wasn't as narrow as a sheet of paper - try the whole of the British Library and you might get the picture. I'm not saying BBC Radio shouldn't have rights - far from it - but exclusivity?

And should it pursue rights with such rigour that it outstrips commercial competition by incredible margins? The argument is that rights holders insist on offering only exclusive rights. If I were a rights holder I'd do the same, because all you need is an obliging stalking horse to prod BBC Sport and as if by magic there's a few extra quid. In this instance either the BBC was feeling generous, is the worst poker player in the world, or perhaps has so much cash it doesn't care.

I love the BBC and believe it's something to be proud of. But should it be spending so much public money on exclusive rights to Wigan vs Walsall on a wet Monday night?
Moz Dee is director of programming at Talk Sport