ITV Sport: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 11:07, 24 July 2007 editMjefm (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users14,148 edits →Rugby Union ← Previous edit		Latest revision as of 14:43, 15 December 2024 edit undoRillington (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users16,080 editsNo edit summary
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{~~Cleanup~~\|date=~~March~~ ~~2007~~}}		{{more citations needed\|date=August 2013}}
			{{Short description\|Sport producer for ITV}}
	]
			{{Use dmy dates\|date=October 2022}}
	'''ITV Sport''' is a ] producer and brand name owned by ]. The company produces ] Football, ] and ] highlights. ITV Sport shows live and exclusive coverage of the full ] season, and produces live coverage of the ] and ]. Big Fight ] is another pivotal part of ITV Sport's portfolio.
			{{Use British English\|date=September 2012}}

			{{Infobox company
	ITV Sport programmes are usually broadcast on its main channel ] (] Network), and digital channel ]. ITV Sport's main rivals are ] and ].
			\| name = ITV Sport
			\| logo = ITV Sport 2013 2.svg
			\| logo_size = 250px
			\| caption =
			\| type = Sports coverage
			\| traded_as =
			\| genre = Sport
			\| predecessor = ];<br>];<br>LSN <small>(])</small>
			\| successor =
			\| foundation = {{Start date\|1985}}
			\| founder = ]
			\| defunct =
			\| location_city = ]
			\| location_country = ]
			\| area_served = ]
			\| key_people = Niall Sloane<br><small>(ITV Director of Sport)</small>;<br>Mark Demuth<br><small>(Controller of Sport Production)</small>
			\| industry =
			\| products =
			\| services =
			\| num_employees =
			\| parent = ]
			\| divisions =
			\| homepage = {{URL\|itv.com/sport}}
			\| footnotes =
			}}

			'''ITV Sport''' is the ] department of ], which produces and presents sports programming for the ] and ]. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title for networked sports programming produced by ITV's regional franchises. The division took its current form in 2004 amid the acquisition of ] by ] to form ITV plc, after which the sports departments of Granada, Carlton, and ] were amalgamated to form ITV Sport.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news \|last=Milmo \|first=Dan \|date=2003-11-15 \|title=Carlton-Granada merger clears last hurdle \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/nov/15/itv.politicsandthemedia \|access-date=2024-11-22 \|work=The Guardian \|language=en-GB \|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
	The Director of ITV Sport is ]. But from March 2007, he takes on a wider role as director of ITV's news and sport output.

			The majority of ITV Sport programmes are broadcast on ] although live football, major horse races and the Rugby World Cup are shown on the ] network (ITV1, STV and UTV). ] and ] are only used when ITV are showing sport on both ITV1 and ITV4.
	Main presenters include ], ], ], ], ], and ].

			==History==
	==Sports which ITV Sport holds rights to show==
			{{For timeline}}
	===Football===<!-- This section is linked from ] -->
	]
	Football is a significant part of ITV's sporting portfolio.

			ITV Sport was created as an umbrella brand for sport programmes on the ] network; no programmes were actually produced by ITV Sport during this time, but rather the 15 ITV companies each produced sports shows for the umbrella brand, such as '']'' by ] and ''Midweek Sports Special'' by ].
	ITV holds joint rights for the 2006, 2010 and 2014 ]s, along with the ]. The network broadcasts top-quality football from a range of competitions throughout the football season, with live coverage of two matches each Tuesday from the ]. They share the rights with ]. ITV get first choice on Tuesday matches, and airs preview and highlights programmes for these games. Both networks broadcast the final live.

			In 2004, Granada and Carlton merged, creating a single company for all ITV franchises in England and Wales.<ref name="auto"/> The current ITV sport department was formed from the amalgamation of ] Sport, Carlton's (previously Central's) sports department and LSN, the sport division of ].
	ITV currently holds exclusive rights to the ], from the quarter finals onwards. In June 2006, the network announced that it had picked up live and exclusive coverage of the last three rounds of the competition for 3 seasons, starting from the ]. The network also broadcasts terrestrial highlights of the ]; its main programme is '']'', and the ].

			===Former Sport channel===
	ITV's main football host for the 2006/2007 season will be ], who takes over from ] as the presenter of the Tuesday night ] matches on ]. Logan took over as the main presenter after ]'s departure in July 2004. However she received some harsh criticism from the British press after her performance fronting the network's ] final coverage between ] and ] at the ]. ITV Sport bosses made the decision to replace her with ], a former ] frontman, for the main presenter role at the ] in Germany. Logan was demoted to ITV's ] presenter for the 2006-2007 season, she was clearly not happy with this and left the network on ] ]. Other presenters include ITV veteran ] and ]
			{{Main\|ITV Sport Channel}}
			]
			ITV used to have a dedicated sports channel on the ] network. Originally broadcasting ] football and ] tennis under the brand '''ONsport''', it was renamed as the '''ITV Sport Channel'''. Lasting for just one football season, the ITV Sport Channel launched on Saturday 11 August 2001 and closed on Saturday 12 May 2002.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=552\|title=offthetelly.co.uk\|access-date=9 August 2012\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128085150/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=552\|archive-date=28 November 2011\|url-status=dead}}</ref>

			===Pay-per-view===
	Previously, ITV has held the rights to English Premiership football and the FA Cup. ITV won the rights to broadcast the FA Cup exclusively on terrestrial television in 1997, showing each final with Sky from 1998 to 2001. ITV lost the rights to the FA Cup and England matches in 2001, but had obtained Premiership highlights rights in 2000, which came as a surprise to the BBC, the previous holders and ending Match Of The Day (aside from FA Cup and England weekends). The ITV Premiership programme was titled 'The Premiership' and was presented by Des Lynam (himself formally presenter for Match of the Day). The show originally went out at 7pm, but this ended up being unpopular and a huge commercial risk by ITV. The show was moved to 10.30pm only a few months later. ITV then lost the rights in 2003 to the BBC, bringing back Match Of The Day on a weekly basis for the 2004/2005 season. One lasting effect of ITV's run was that the BBC locked in 10:30pm as the normal time for its Saturday programme.

			====ITV Sport Select====
	On ], ], ITV and ] picked up the rights to show ] and England home internationals from Sky and the ]. ITV will show live coverage of one game from both the first round and second round of the FA Cup, two live games and one replay (if necessary) from the 3rd to 6th round, one semi-final and the final (shared with Setanta), plus highlights of all other games. They have also picked up the rights to England's home qualifiers, away friendlies, and some home friendlies, plus highlights of other games.<ref>{{cite news
			During the ] ITV showed the on-demand ] football matches from ] on a channel called ITV Sport Select.
	\| title = ITV scores in FA Cup rights fight
	\| publisher = ]
	\| date =
	\| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6509141.stm
	\| accessdate = 2006-05-21 }}</ref>

			====ITV Box Office====
	ITV have shown every World Cup live since 1966, and numerous European Championships. ITV's most significant football moments include the World Cup Final of 1966. Whilst most of nation tuned onto the BBC for live coverage of the final between England and West Germany, ITV broadcast the event as well, with commentator Hugh Johns describing the winning England goal by Geoff Hurst in extra time. Perhaps the biggest ITV football achievement was its live and exclusive coverage of the World Cup 98 second round match between England and Argentina. Argentina won the match on penalties and a record audience, and its highest for a football match, of almost 25 million viewers tuned in to ITV's coverage, fronted by ].
			ITV launched its pay-per-view channel, ], on 4 February 2017 when it showed coverage of ]'s world title boxing fight against ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://sport-onthebox.com/2016/12/13/chris-eubank-jnr-fight-live-on-new-itv-box-office-channel/\|title=Chris Eubank Jnr to fight on new ITV Box Office channel\|last=SOTB\|date=13 December 2016}}</ref> On 24 January 2020 the channel announced its closure via a message posted on the ITV Box Office web page: "The ITV Box Office service has ceased as of 24th January 2020. There are no further plans to show any future events on this channel."<ref>{{cite news\|url=https://www.itv.com/itvboxofficefaqs\|title=ITV Box Office Closure notice\|access-date=25 January 2020}}</ref>

			==Current ITV Sport coverage==
	Other moments include the Champions League Final of 1999, when Manchester United won it in the dying seconds of the match. The final achieved an audience peaking at around 17 million viewers. The Champions League Final of 2005 was also won by an English club, and live on ITV. Liverpool beat AC Milan on penalties, with a peak audience of around 15 million tuning in to ITV's coverage. Around 12.5 million tuned in to see Arsenal play Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final, despite the English side losing in the dying minutes of the match. ] also broadcast the final as part of the joint Champions League deal signed in 2002.

			===Football===
	ITV's highest World Cup ratings of 2006 was its live coverage of England versus Sweden, in the group stages, and it achieved a peak audience of 21 million, its highest audience since the England versus Argentina match at World Cup 98.<ref>{{cite news
			ITV holds joint rights for the ] with the ] and has shown every World Cup live since 1966, on a shared basis with the BBC. The same arrangement has been in place for many years for coverage of the ], which ITV first covered in 1972. Since 2020, ITV has also shared the tournament with the BBC, under an agreement most recently through 2028.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=The BBC and ITV to show UEFA Euro 2024 and UEFA Euro 2028 \|url=https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2022/bbc-itv-uefa-euro-2024-euro-2028 \|access-date=2024-11-22 \|website=www.bbc.co.uk \|language=en}}</ref>
	\| title = World Cup ratings
	\| publisher = ]
	\| date =
	\| url = http://www.barb.co.uk
	\| accessdate = 2006-05-21 }}</ref>

			ITV shared the rights for the FA Cup with the BBC from 1955 to 1988 and again since 2021 with both broadcasters covering the final live. This was generally the only UK match shown live on television every season. Both broadcasters started coverage from early morning trying to gain the upper hand on their rival. ITV regained the live rights to broadcast the ] exclusively on terrestrial television in 1997, showing each final with Sky from 1998 to 2001 while the BBC screened highlights on Match of the Day. The FA Cup then reverted to the BBC until 2008 when ITV regained the FA Cup and ] rights.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/mar/30/ITV.football1?INTCMP=SRCH\|title=ITV to pay £275m for FA Cup\|first=Chris\|last=Tryhorn\|date=30 March 2007\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> However, their coverage of the competition was criticised after a string of errors including poor camera angles, very short highlight shows and, most notably, the incident during the Fourth Round derby between Everton and Liverpool in the ] competition. After a goalless 90 minutes, the game went to extra-time. And when young midfielder ] scored the winner in the second half of extra-time, ITV accidentally cut to adverts, causing viewers to miss the goal. Eventually, ITV lost these rights from the end of the 2013–14 season to BBC Sport.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jul/17/bbc-bt-sport-fa-cup-tv-rights\|title=BBC and BT Sport to share FA Cup TV rights\|first=Owen\|last=Gibson\|date=17 July 2013\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> On 23 May 2019, ITV regained the rights from BT Sport from 2021 to 2022 making the FA Cup fully free to air for the first time since 1988.
	Previous ] football presenters include ], ], ], ], ] and ].

			In 2024, ITV Sport commissioned pianist, composer, and singer ] to create the music featured in the opening credits of their football coverage for ] matches.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=UEFA Nations League \|url=https://www.itv.com/watch/uefa-nations-league/10a5673/10a5673a0001 \|access-date=9 September 2024 \|website=ITVX}}</ref>
	Brian Moore was the voice of ITV's football coverage from the 1960s through to the 1998 World Cup final in France. He presented and commentated on football for the network in four different decades. He died on ], ], on the day England beat Germany in Munich 5-1.

			====ITV football presenters====
	ITV's current lead commentator is ] (also the voice of FIFA 06 and FIFA 07), who has won several RTS sports awards for best commentator. Other commentators include ], ] and ].
			Since 2015, ITV's main football host is ]. Previous presenters of ITV's football coverage include ] (1983–88), ] (1988–92), ] (1993–94), ] (1994–99), ] (1999–2004), ] (2004–06), ] (2006–10) and ] (2010–14).

			===Motorsport===
	The main pundits are ], ] ( the co-voice of the FIFA World Cup 2006 and the UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 for EA Sports) and Robbie Earle. ITV employed former Dutch international and Chelsea manager ] for the 2006 World Cup, along with ], ], ], ] and ].
			The ] is another series ITV won away from the BBC, doing so in 2002 and in 2004, ITV introduced live coverage of the ] for the first time on network television. Previously the ] had shown occasional races live, but not to this extent. All meetings have been broadcast live by ITV Sport since. The races are now shown live on ITV4 and highlights are shown on ITV on Tuesday early morning on the corresponding weekend. ] and ] were the presenters from 2002 to 2005, with ] and ] taking over in 2006. ] replaced Kravitz in 2009.

			In 2006, ITV replaced ] as the terrestrial broadcaster of the ] Championship.
	ITV's main reporter is Gabriel Clarke. Others include Ned Boulting and Dave Beckett.

			From 2014 to 2016 ITV4 showed highlights of MotoGP which aired on the Monday night after the race, the BT Sport team contributed to the commentary and was in essence a BT Sport production for ITV. These rights were lost to Channel 5 for the 2017 season, then the rights went to Quest for the 2019 season.
	===Motorsport===
			In 2021, ITV4 regained the rights to MotoGP highlights, and showed the French GP live, with the British GP due to be shown on ITV.
	'''Formula 1'''

			===Rugby Union===
	ITV has covered ] from 1997, when the BBC lost the exclusive rights. The network promised to revolutionise the sport, by offering extended pre and post race analysis and complete live coverage of qualifying, thanks to a multi-million pound deal negotiated with ]'s ].
			The network has broadcast every ] live since 1991, being host broadcaster in 1991, 1999 and 2015. The only tournament that ITV has not shown has been the inaugural tournament held in 1987.

			When, in 1996, ] controversially won the rights to show highlights of England home internationals, including the Five Nations, ITV sub-licensed highlights rights to those games.
	Coverage was originally presented by ] from 1997 to 2005 with Tony Jardine as analyst until 2001 when he shared the role with ]. ITV also managed to secure ] to continue commentating as he had done with the BBC, his new co-commentator was ex F1 driver ], who would acted as a ], similar to the position the ] and ] had when the BBC aired Grand Prix

			At the same time ITV started coverage of the international Rugby Sevens series. This took the form of highlights of most tournaments, with live coverage of those held in England and Wales. ITV lost those rights to Sky Sports in 2006, but between 2015 has been showing highlights once again.
	The ] was Walker's very last having missed 4 other races that season. ] moved up from his former role as pitlane reporter to replace Murray in the commentary box with Brundle still commentating as usual. ] then inherited Allen's old role.

			ITV has shown coverage of the ] at various points during the tournament's history. ITV showed live coverage of semi-finals and final of the ]<ref>"ITV secure Euro rugby cup deal", ''Evening Herald'', 25 October 1995</ref> and for a single season in 2001, when Premium TV failed to launch its channel on time, which it used to bolster the ITV Sport Channel. ITV resumed its coverage of the tournament in 2022 when it replaced Channel 4 as the event's terrestrial broadcaster.<ref></ref>
	In 2006, ex-BBC Sport presenter ] left the corporation to join ITV, and front the grand prix programmes. ] now solely produce ITV's grand prix coverage. ] is the main analyst alongside Rider, with James Allen and Martin Brundle providing commentary, and Ted Kravitz and ] on hand to provide updates from the pit lane. About 10-15 minutes before the start of each race Martin Brundle does his very famous and popular grid walk. He walks around the grid interviewing drivers and F1 personal. Since 1997, Brundle has given the viewers a guided tour of the race track that the race is being held at using on-board camera footage, usually from the driver in ] for the race, and himself presenting the feature standing at key points on the track.

			Between the ] and ] seasons ITV Sport showed a weekly highlights programme of all ] and ] matches. These rights went to Channel 5, who also broadcast five live matches between 2017 and 2021. In 2022, coverage of the Premiership returned with ITV showing seven live matches a season including the final. This continues for the ] season.<ref></ref>
	At the 2005 Belgian Grand Prix, ITV's coverage was not fronted by Jim Rosenthal, instead ] presented as Rosenthal was covering boxing for ITV. This was the first time anyone other than Rosenthal had presented F1 while on ITV. Angus presented again in 2006, this time for the ], as Steve Rider was presenting ITV's coverage of the ].

			From 2016, in reaction to ] ] bids from ] and ] for coverage of the ] from 2017, the ] agreed to lose exclusive rights to the tournament two years early in order for the BBC and ITV to jointly bid for the rights of the tournament to keep the Six Nations on free-to-air television. On 9 July 2015, the bid was accepted, and ITV and BBC became joint broadcasters of the Six Nations in the UK from 2016 to 2021. ITV would broadcast all England, Ireland and Italy home matches live, while BBC would broadcast all France, Scotland and Wales home matches live. ] and ] present ITV's coverage of the Six Nations. Prior to the 2022 tournament, ITV extended their contract up and including 2025. The new deal would see them continue to broadcast home matches from England, Ireland and Italy and additionally broadcast those from France. The new deal also means they would broadcast matches in ] for the first time.
	ITV have been recognised for their world class coverage of Formula 1, and won countless awards including several ] nominations and ] awards, including best sports presenter (Jim Rosenthal) and best sports analyst (Martin Brundle).

			On 4 February 2017, it was announced that ITV had extended its contract for the Rugby World Cup until the 2023 tournament. The deal also includes live coverage of the ] for the first time and the Under 20 World Cup. ITV previously showed highlights of the WRWC in 2001.
	To the contary of these achievements, ITV has come in for some criticism from fans for refusing to show live coverage of qualifying for Grands Prix in "inconvenient" time zones, although since the start of the 2007 season ITV will now show every qualifying session live on either ITV Network or one of ITV's digital channels.

			===Horse Racing===
	Viewers have also been upset by ITV showing commercial breaks during races. Five 3-minute commercial breaks are taken during every race, around two or three laps depending on the circuit. Whilst most of the time no key action is missed, in 2005 the network made a serious blunder at the ]. In one of the most thrilling races in years, with 3 laps to go, ITV took a commercial break, missing those key laps and almost missing the finish of the race. After the race, they repeated the last 3 laps again. ITV were inundated with complaints from angry viewers and the server on their website crashed, ITV were fined by the regulator ] afterwards. An on-screen apology was made by Rosenthal before the start of the next race in ] two weeks later.
			Until the mid-1980s, horse racing was shown regularly on ITV. Racing was a mainstay of World of Sport throughout the programme's run with the ] featuring almost every week. ITV also showed racing during the week. ITV showed many of racing's showpiece events, including all the flat racing classics, although the channel never showed ] as this event was covered by the BBC. In the mid-1980s coverage was switched to Channel 4. In March 1984, ITV's midweek action was moved with Saturday's racing coverage making the switch in October 1985 a week after the final edition of World of Sport was broadcast. ITV continued to broadcast coverage of ], simulcasting Channel 4's coverage, but stopped doing so after the ] and this was the last time that horse racing was broadcast on ITV until 2017.

			On 1 January 2016 it was announced ITV Sport had won rights to be the exclusive free to air home of British Horse Racing from 1 January 2017 taking over from Channel 4 which had taken ITV rights previously in the 1980s. ITV deal encompassed Horse Racing every Saturday Afternoon on ITV or ITV4 as well as covering the major festivals on ITV. This deal meant ITV were able to cover festivals such as The Grand National, Cheltenham and Royal Ascot which they previously were not allowed to cover when they covered Horse Racing on World of Sport and also meant The Derby returning to the channel in 2017 for the first time since 1988.<ref>{{cite web\|title=ITV announce Horse Racing Deal\|url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/british-horseracing-announces-exclusive-domestic-tv-rights-deal-itv\|website=ITV Press Centre\|publisher=ITV\|access-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>
	In 2007, there was the rise to fame of ] of which ITV have covered extensively but some viewers have found it too extensively. Many viewers have been upset at the fact the ITV-F1 crew, with the possible exception of ], have shown an extreme bias towards Hamilton in the coverage. This led to the live qualifying session for the ] to be shown on another ITV channel not available to those without digital television. Instead, it was replaced by a documentary on the life of Lewis Hamilton. The biased coverage has also led to various pre-race features to be cancelled, most notably at the ] in which ] was supposed to have been shown driving in a ] around ]. This was put off until the race coverage afterwards.

			ITV's Racing coverage encompasses coverage of approximately 100 days of racing each year with 41 days on ITV and 60 days on ITV4. ITV main Racing Presenter is ] who signed for coverage from Sky Sports and Francesca Cumani who hosts during the Flat season. Oli Bell also joined ITV as a presenter of the Opening Show and which is broadcast live every Saturday Morning on ITV4.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-racing-line-announced \|title=ITV Horse Racing Line Up \|publisher=ITV \|date=27 June 2017 \|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref> Oli also covers main presenter duties for Chamberlain when he is off.
	Even ]'s gridwalks have come under recent criticism. This is due to the fact that Brundle interviews more celebrities, who usually know very little or nothing about ], rather than actual race drivers. In ], many gridwalks have gone without interviewing a single driver or F1 figurehead.

			===Cycling===
	ITV Sport won a ] in 2007 for its coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Jenson Button won for the first time.
			ITV obtained the rights to the ] in 2002, replacing ] as the UK terrestrial broadcaster. The intention behind the purchase was to provide live content for the ] during the football off-season. The coverage is shown on ], having aired in previous years on ] and ]. Initially, live coverage was only broadcast at the weekend but since the 2010 Tour de France, ] has broadcast daily live coverage of every stage except the final which is shown on ]. ITV4 also airs nightly highlights shows.

			Following the ratings success of the Tour de France, ITV invested in more cycling coverage and now shows the ] ] and ] live. It shows highlights of ], having previously showed that race live before it regularly clashed with the Tour of Britain. ITV has previously shown the ].
	'''Other motorsport'''

			ITV also has highlights to the Tour Series cycling, and several of the classic French races, such as Paris-Roubaix.
	As part of the F1 contract, the network also shows highlights of the ], the feeder series to F1. These programmes are usually broadcast a week after the events. It is presented by either Ted Kravitz or Louise Goodman, with commentary from James Allen.

			===Darts===
	ITV also broadcasts the ], after BBC lost the rights to ] in 2001, and Channel 4 then lost the rights to ITV. Coverage was hosted by Angus Scott, with ] and ] in 2004 and 2005. However as a cost cutting measure, ITV decided in 2006 to take the international WRC programmes produced by ISC, therefore removing the ITV presenters. For the 2007 season, coverage was moved away from the main ITV channel onto the digital ITV4, available only via ] or satellite.
			ITV was the first broadcaster of darts in the United Kingdom back in 1972. They covered many tournaments on World of Sport, including the News of the World Championship and the Winmau World Masters. When World of Sport ended ITV scaled back its darts coverage and dropped darts altogether in 1988 and with the exception of a single one-off event, the 1999 Match of the Century between PDC World Champion ] and BDO World Champion ]. It would be almost 20 years before ITV resumed coverage of the sport when in 2007, ITV Sport announced they would be covering a new darts tournament, the ], comprising champions of both the BDO and PDC tournaments. ITV covered the event between 2007 and 2010 – coverage then moved to ].

			In 2011 ITV signed a new contract with the PDC to show the European Darts Championship in July and the ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.pdc.tv/page/PlayersChampionshipDetail/0,,10180~2445351,00.html \|title=Planet Darts \| Tournaments \| Players Championship Finals \| Players Championship Finals \| ITV4 to Show Players Championship Finals \|access-date=13 September 2011 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924125858/http://www.pdc.tv/page/PlayersChampionshipDetail/0%2C%2C10180~2445351%2C00.html \|archive-date=24 September 2011}}</ref>
	The ] is another series the BBC lost the broadcasting rights to ITV in 2002. Coverage was hosted by Angus Scott and ]. Races 1 and 2 of each meeting are broadcast as highlights, with Race 3 live; the support races, such as the ] and the ] races aren't aired live by aired as Highlights on Motorsport UK which is shown late at night during the middle of the season. ITV's live BTCC coverage has been regarded as a big success, with regular audiences of between 1 and 1.5 million viewers for its live coverage on Sunday afternoons. ITV started its live coverage in 2004, and now broadcasts all meetings live. Commentary comes from ] and 1992 BTCC champion ]. In 2006, ITV broadcast the British leg of the ] from ]. For 2007, ITV continues its live BTCC coverage, with the last five rounds of the championship live on ITV. The opening five rounds will be live on one of ITV's digital stations, with highlights of those to be broadcast on ITV. Louise Goodman and Ted Kravitz take over, from Angus Scott and Vicki Butler-Henderson, as presenters of the BTCC programmes. Ben Edwards and Tim Harvey have been retained in the commentary box.

			On 14 June 2013 the PDC and ITV announced they had signed a new deal to cover four tournaments a year from 2013 to 2015. The tournaments are The Players Championship which they had covered from 2009 to 2010 and from December 2011 – present, The European Championship which they covered previously in 2008 and 2011, a new tournament called the Masters where the top 16 face in other in a three-day tournament, and the UK Open, otherwise known as the FA Cup of Darts, which had previously been shown on Sky.
	To consolidate its ever expanding motorsport portfolio, in 2004 ITV broadcast a brand new magazine show for motorsport fans called Speed Sunday. The show was mainly presented by ] and Vicki Butler-Henderson. Other presenters included ], Angus Scott and ]. It include a mix of news and features from the world of motorsport, in front of a live studio audience, for 1 hour on Sunday afternoons, on alternate weekends to F1. Special programmes included live coverage of the ] and the BTCC Masters race. Whilst the concept of the show was appreciated by motorsport fans, the programme struggled ratings wise and the budget was tight, meaning that the shows were cut 45 minutes and filmed on location instead of the studio. The show was axed at the end of the season.

			In late 2014 it was announced ITV signed a deal to cover five darts tournaments in 2015 covering a new tournament entitled the World Series of Darts Finals. This means that in 2015 ITV will cover the Masters in January, the UK Open in March, the European Championship in October, the World Series of Darts Finals and Players Championship Finals in November.<ref>{{cite web\|title=ITV Darts 2015\|url=http://sport-onthebox.com/2014/11/15/itv-adds-fifth-live-pdc-darts-tournament-for-2015/\|website=Sport on the Box\|date=15 November 2014 }}</ref>
	In 2006, ITV picked up the rights to live coverage of the ] Championship from ]. Sky still show replays of the races on the evenings of the meetings. Live coverage of all 13 rounds is also fronted by James Cracknell, with motorbike columnist Janie Omorogbe. Barry Nutley and 1992 BSB champion James Whitham provide commentary. Coverage of the British World Superbike meeting at Silverstone and Brands Hatch was also shown in 2006.

	===~~Boxing~~===		===Snooker===
			In the 1980s and early 1990s, ITV broadcast up to four Major Snooker Tournaments per season including ], The ], ] (which replaced the World Doubles in 1988), ] and ]. Daytime action was sometimes shown on Channel 4 until 1988. However, ITV decided to axe all of its snooker after the 1993 British Open and apart from a brief return to the green baize in 2000 and 2001, the sport was absent from ITV screens for more than 20 years.
	ITV Sport has broadcast many boxing matches over the years, and broadcasts some of the biggest fights featuring UK fighters under the '']'' banner.

			ITV started to broadcast snooker again in February 2013. ITV4 broadcast the World Open. It was announced in June 2013 that ITV4 will cover the new tournament entitled the Champion of Champions from November 2013. In summer 2014 ITV and Barry Hearn announced they had signed a 5-year deal to cover 2 Snooker Tournaments per year, keeping coverage of the Champion of Champions and a new tournament called the World Grand Prix.<ref>{{cite web\|title=ITV new deal with World Snooker\|url=http://sport-onthebox.com/2014/04/24/champion-of-champions-snooker-returning-to-itv4-for-2014/\|website=Sport on the Box\|date=24 April 2014 }}</ref> In August 2015, ] announced that ITV4 would televise the ] in a three-year deal through to 2018.<ref name="worldsnooker.com">{{cite web\|url=http://www.worldsnooker.com/itv4-to-televise-snooker-shoot-out/\|title=ITV4 To Televise Snooker Shoot-Out – World Snooker\|date=14 August 2015}}</ref> As of 2021 ITV4 shows the ], ], ], ] and the new ].
	In 2005, the network obtained the main share of ] '''Sports Network''' fights (that had previously been aired by ]) and as a result broadcasts fights involving ], ], ], ] and others. This ended a 10 year exile from the sport. Former high-profile fighters on ITV included ], ] and ].

			===Sports Life Stories===
	In May 2005, ITV returned to the ring, with live coverage of Amir Khan's last fight before becoming professional against ]. It achieved a peak audience of 6.3 million viewers, encouraging ITV to reach a long-term agreement to show future ] boxing promotions.
			ITV Sport's award-winning<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/awards-news/lennon-and-samuel-land-major-prizes-at-sja-awards/\|title=Lennon and Samuel land SJA's major prizes – Sports Journalists' Association\|website=sportsjournalists.co.uk\|date=24 March 2014 }}</ref> documentary strand has featured the stories of many sporting greats. ] series one was first shown on ITV4 in 2012 and included episodes on ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Series two first shown on ITV4 in 2013 included episodes on ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Series 3 returns in February 2015. Reporters on the series have included ], Ned Boulting, Adam Darke and Leon Mann.

			==List of current ITV Sport rights==
	Other highlights since ITV returned to the sport have included the Joe Calzaghe's emphatic victory over ] for the ] and ] ] world title at the ] ] in March 2006. Despite being a poor fight, the first contest between Audley Harrison and Danny Williams in December 2005 achieved an audience of eight million viewers - giving credence to the fact there is large potential audience for top class boxing in the UK. ]'s decision to show boxing ar part of a prime-time slot on ] from January 2007 may have been influenced by this.

			=== Football ===
	The main host of ITV Boxing is ], with analysis from ] and commentary from ] and ]. ] provides reports and also presented and co-produced a recent documentary on ] - 'No Average Joe' - shown on ].

			{\| class="wikitable"
	===Rugby Union===
			\|+Football broadcasting rights To ITV
	ITV hold joint UK rights to the ] along with ] and will show all games live on either ], ] or ].
			\|-
			! Competition !! Region!! Broadcast details
			\|-
			\|]\|\|{{flagicon\|ENG}} {{flagicon\|WAL}}\|\| Live coverage of more than 20 matches will be shown each season from 2021/22 through to 2024/25 alongside BBC Sport
			\|}

			'''Football'''
	The network has broadcast every Rugby World Cup live since 1991, being host broadcaster in 1991 and 1999. In 2003, England finally triumphed in the final against Australia, at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney. ITV broadcast the event live, with a peak audience of around 12-14 million viewers, a record for any rugby match broadcast to a UK audience. The action was anchored by ] and ], with pundits including ] and ]. The network received some criticism for relegating coverage of ] group match against ] and the ] v ] quarter final to ], then a channel which the majority of UK households did not receive.
			*]: All matches live on BBC Sport & ITV Sport (2018–2022)<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/27750996\|title=BBC and ITV win rights to 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cup finals\|date=7 June 2014\|publisher=BBC}}</ref>
			*]: All matches live on BBC Sport & ITV Sport (Until 2028)
			* FA Community Shield: (2021–present)<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.itv.com/football/articles/the-2021-community-shield-live-on-itv-this-weekend\|title = The 2021 Community Shield live on ITV1 this weekend}}</ref>
			* EFL Championship, League One, League Two, EFL Cup & EFL Trophy Highlights (2022–present: EFL League highlights on ITV4 and repeated on ITV1)<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.itv.com/football/articles/itv-to-broadcast-efl-highlights-from-next-season\|title = ITV to broadcast EFL Highlights from next season}}</ref>
			*]: Semi-finals and final are shown live on ITV4
			*England National Women's Team: 2021–present<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.itv.com/football/articles/itv-to-become-home-of-england-womens-football-team\|title = ITV to become home of England Women's Football team}}</ref>
			* Arnold Clark Cup: 2022–present<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.itv.com/football/articles/itv-to-show-inaugural-arnold-clark-cup-featuring-lionesses\|title=ITV to show inaugural Arnold Clark Cup featuring Lionesses}}</ref>
			* La Liga - 10 live matches per season<ref>{{cite web \|title=ITV gain rights to 10 LA Liga matches \|url=https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/itv-lands-sublicensed-rights-to-10-laliga-matches-per-season/ \|website=Sports Business \|access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref>

			'''Rugby Union'''
	After the World Cup was a huge ratings success, ITV tried to obtain the rights to the RBS ] from the ]; however, the corporation have retained the rights until the end of the decade. Most of the main rugby tournaments outside of the World Cup, including Six Nations, ], ] and ] are broadcast on the ] or ].
			*]: All matches Live on ITV1, ITV3 & ITV4 (to 2023)<ref>{{cite web\|url= https://www.itv.com/news/2019-08-15/rise-for-the-world-cup-on-itv/\|title=Rise for the Rugby World Cup on ITV\|date=15 August 2019\|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref>
			*]: Live on ITV1 and ITV4 until 2021
			*]: Live on ITV4 until 2023
			*]: ITV has rights to England, France, Ireland and Italy home games (2022–2025)<ref>{{cite news\|title=Six Nations set to stay on BBC & ITV\|work=BBC Sport\|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/57201738\|access-date=21 May 2021}}</ref>
			*]: 5 live matches in 2021–22 to include the final plus a weekly highlights show. Coverage increasing to seven live matches in 2022–23 and 2023–24.
			* European Rugby Champions Cup - 8 live matches per season including final & highlights (to 2023/24)<ref>{{cite web \|title=ITV win Heineken Cup Rights \|url=https://www.itv.com/rugby/articles/itv-to-show-heineken-champions-cup \|website=ITV Sport \|publisher=ITV \|access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref>

			'''Motorsport'''
	Previously, ITV have broadcast highlights of England's home internationals at ] in the Six Nations and the Autumn International test matches.
			*]: Live on ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 (to 2026)
			* MotoGP: 2 Races Live on ITV1, ITV3 & ITV4 with highlights of all races on ITV4<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/motogp-free-to-air-races-on-itv-crucial-for-uk-fans/6508959/\|title = MotoGP: Free-to-air races on ITV "crucial" for UK fans}}</ref>
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			*], ] and ]: Live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4
			*] highlights
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV1

			'''Boxing'''
	ITV also held the rights to the ] tournament from 2001 to 2006. These rights have obtained by ] for the new 2006/7 season. This means ITV's only remaining ] rights in its portfolio is ].
			*]: Live on ITV4

			'''Snooker'''
	] and ] will be the studio presenters for the ] in ]. ] commentators ] and ] will be 'loaned' out to ] for the duration; they will team up for some of the tournament's major matches, including the final. They will return to ] once the tournament has finished. <ref>{{cite news
			*]: Live on ITV1 and ITV4
	\| title = BARNES & HARRISON HEAD TO THE WORLD CUP
			*]: Live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4
	\| publisher = ]
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
	\| date =
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
	\| url = http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,123-1269627,00.html
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
	\| accessdate = }} 2007-06-08</ref>
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4

			'''Darts'''
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
			*]: Delayed and live coverage of 6 events on ITV3 and ITV4 (Delayed coverage of events outside UK & Europe)

			'''Cycling'''
			*]: Live Coverage & Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV4
			*]: Live coverage & Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Live on ITV4
			*]: Highlights on ITV4
			* British Road Race Championships: Highlights on ITV4
			*]: Highlights on ITV4

			'''Horse Racing'''
			* Exclusive terrestrial rights to a minimum of 95 days of racing, live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4 including ], ], Derby & Royal Ascot

			'''American Football'''
			* Two London Games and the ] live plus weekly highlights until 2024/25<ref>{{cite web \|title=ITV and NFL announce three-year partnership \|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-and-nfl-announce-three-year-partnership \|access-date=19 August 2022 \|website=Press Centre }}</ref>

			'''Wrestling'''
			* ] (2019–present, AEW Dynamite & Rampage reruns on ITV4 and highlights on ITV1)<ref> F4wonline. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.</ref>

			==List of current ITV Sport personnel==

			'''Football'''

			Presenters:
			* ]
			* ] (Also works for BBC Sport and Premier League Productions)
			* ] (also works for Amazon Prime Video & TNT Sports)

			Pundits:
			* ] (Also works for Amazon Prime Video)
			* ]
			* ] (Also works for Amazon Prime Video and ])
			* ] (Also works for Sky Sports)
			* ] (Also works for Amazon Prime Video, Viaplay Sports, TNT Sports, Sky Sports and ])
			* ] (Also works for BBC Sport)
			* ] (Also works for Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video)
			* ]

			Commentators:
			* ] (Also works for talkSPORT and Premier League Productions)
			* Seb Hutchinson (Also works for BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports and ])
			* Joe Speight (Also works for TNT Sports, Premier League Productions and ])
			* Tom Gayle (Also works for BBC Sport and Premier League Productions)

			Reporters:
			* ] (Also works for Amazon Prime Video)
			* ] (Also works for Sky Sports)

			'''Cycling'''

			Presenter:
			* ]

			Pundits:
			* ] (Also works for BBC Sport)
			* ]

			Commentators:
			* ]
			* ]

			'''Darts'''

			Presenter:
			* Jacqui Oatley

			Pundits:
			* ] (Also works for Online Live League Darts & talkSPORT)
			* ]
			* ] (Also works for Sky Sports)

			Commentators:
			* ] (Also works for Sky Sports)
			* ] (Also works for talkSPORT and Eurosport/Quest)

			Reporter:
			* ]
			* ]

			'''Horse Racing'''

			Presenters:
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			Pundits:
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			Commentators:
			* Richard Hoiles
			* ]
			* ]

			Reporters:
			* Matt Chapman (Also works for Sky Sports Racing)
			* ]
			* Brian Gleeson
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			'''Motorsport'''
			* David Addison
			* ]
			* ]
			* Barry Nutley (Also works for Eurosport)
			* Niall Mackenzie (Also works for Eurosport)
			* ]
			* ]
			* Richard John-Neil
			* ]
			* ]

			'''Rugby Union'''

			Presenters:
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ]
			* ] (also a commentator and also working for Amazon Prime & TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* Hugh Woozencroft (also works for talkSPORT)

			Pundits:
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport & Sky Sports)
			* ]
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for RTE Sport & BBC Radio 5 Live)
			* ] (also works for Sky Sports)
			* ]
			* ]
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ] (also works for Sky Sports)
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for Sky Sports)
			* ]
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ]
			* ] (also works for Amazon & S4C)
			* ]
			* ]
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport & Amazon Prime)
			* ]
			* ] (also works for BBC Radio 5 Live)
			* ]
			* ]

			Commentators:
			* ] (also works for TNT Sports)
			* ] (also works for Amazon Prime)
			* ]
			* Simon Ward

			Reporters:
			* Gabriel Clarke
			* Jill Douglas
			* David Flatman

			'''Snooker'''

			Presenters:
			* ]
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ]

			Pundits:
			* ] (also works for Eurosport/Quest)
			* ] (also works for Eurosport)
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)

			Commentators:
			* David Hendon (also works for Eurosport/Quest)
			* Phil Yates (also works for Eurosport/Quest)

			Reporters:
			* ] (also works for BBC Sport)
			* ]

			==Previous ITV Sport coverage==

			===Athletics===
			In 1985, ITV won the rights to show British Athletics from the BBC. As well as ], the channel also showed many of the major European evening meetings whereby ITV showed the first hour with the second hour broadcast on ]. ITV also broadcast the 1983 and 1987 World Championships and the European Athletics Championships during the 1980s and in 1990. Again, some of the coverage was broadcast on Channel 4. Jim Rosenthal presented the coverage with commentary from ], Peter Matthews and ]. ITV scaled back its coverage of the sport in the early 1990s and decided to axe all remaining athletics coverage in 1997 and the sport has subsequently never been seen on the channel. ] briefly took the baton from ITV, showing UK meetings in 1997 and 1998, before coverage reverted to the BBC in 1999.

	===The Boat Race===		===The Boat Race===
	ITV won the rights to the annual ] ~~in 2004~~ from the BBC, ~~who~~ ~~regarded~~ ~~the~~ ~~event~~ as ~~one~~ of ~~their~~ ~~sporting 'crown jewels'.~~ The contract ~~runs~~ to 2009. ] ~~fronted~~ ~~ITV's~~ ~~live~~ ~~coverage~~ of ~~the~~ ~~event~~ in ~~2005~~ ~~and 2006~~, ~~with~~ ~~former~~ ~~Olympic~~ ~~rowing champion~~ ]. ~~However~~ ~~she~~ ~~will~~ not ~~front~~ ~~the~~ ~~programme~~ in ~~2007,~~ as ~~she~~ ~~has~~ ~~defected~~ to the BBC.		In 2004, ITV won the rights to the annual ] from the BBC.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/nov/26/bbc.radio\|title=BBC loses Boat Race radio rights\|first=John\|last=Plunkett\|date=26 November 2004\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> The contract ran to 2009. Hosts of the coverage were initially ] and ]. ] took over as presenter, while Peter Drury commentated. ] acted as a co presenter and pundit. ITV Sport did not renew its contract for The Boat Race after its contract ended due to wanting to concentrate on football and the rights reverted to the BBC.

			===Boxing===
	Steve Rider was thought to be the likely candidate to replace her. He has already fronted numerous Boat Race broadcasts for the BBC. However, in an announcement on the official it was confirmed that presenter ] will front ITV's coverage of the 2007 race, on 7 April.
			ITV Sport has broadcast many ] matches over the years under the '']'' banner and the sport was a regular fixture on ITV screens until the mid-1990s when ITV lost its two premier contracts – in mid-1994 ] took ] and his stable of fighters to ] and at the start of 1995, ] won the rights to show Sports Network fights.<ref name="bbcnews05">{{cite news \| title = Hatton, Calzaghe and Khan on ITV \| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/4641585.stm \| work = BBC News \| date = 1 July 2005 \| access-date = 20 March 2007}}</ref> This left ITV with only occasional boxing for the following ten years. Their only networked boxing during this period were a few fights involving ], thanks to a contract with Merseyside promoter ]. Other bouts were shown on ] and the ill-fated ] and some boxing was shown on a regional basis, but this was rare.<ref></ref>

			In May 2005, ITV returned to the ring with live coverage of ]'s last fight before becoming professional against ]. It achieved a peak audience of 6.3 million viewers, encouraging ITV to reach a long-term agreement to broadcast the main share of ] '''Sports Network''' fights and as a result broadcast fights involving ], ], ], ], ] and others. Other highlights included Joe Calzaghe's emphatic victory over ] for the ] and ] ] world title at the ] ] in March 2006. During this period the main event was usually shown on the ] Network while undercard matches were often televised on ].
	ITV's ] is the main commentator.

			On 6 September 2008, Amir Khan switched to Sky from ITV, signalling the end of ITV's contract with Frank Warren's Sports Network promotion. Later that month, ITV announced a 2-year, 26-fight deal with Hennessy Sports. The majority of fights were screened on ITV4 and was once again hosted by Jim Rosenthal, who made an unexpected return to ITV having previously been axed in early 2008. Amir Khan moved back to ITV in 2010, when his fight against ] was broadcast live in the early hours of Sunday 15 May 2010. ITV also broadcast delayed coverage of at least one ] fight in America the night after it took place. ITV then decided to stop covering the sport as ITV thought that boxing was no longer commercially viable.
	Against expectations, coverage of The Boat Race was the subject of acclaim from many quarters. The audience for the event hit six million viewers in 2005 and increased to 7.2 million in 2006.

			ITV made a return to boxing in 2015, covering Belfast world champion ] live.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Frampton fight live on ITV\|url=http://www.itv.com/news/2015-01-27/carl-frampton-title-fight-to-be-shown-live-on-itv/\|website=ITV News\|date=27 January 2015\|publisher=ITV\|access-date=27 January 2015}}</ref> In 2017 ITV showed ]'s world title boxing fight against ]. The event launched ITV's new pay-per-view channel ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-show-eubank-jnr-world-title-fight \|title=ITV to show Eubank Jnr World Title fight \|publisher=ITV \|date=13 December 2016 \|access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref> In 2017/18, ITV broadcast the inaugural ] tournament.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.worldboxingnews.net/2017/09/05/news/george-groves-chris-eubank-jr-wbss-bouts-head-to-itv-box-office\|title=George Groves, Chris Eubank Jr. WBSS bouts head to ITV Box Office\|last=WBSS\|website=WBN – World Boxing News\|access-date=7 September 2017\|archive-date=7 September 2017\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907215151/http://www.worldboxingnews.net/2017/09/05/news/george-groves-chris-eubank-jr-wbss-bouts-head-to-itv-box-office\|url-status=dead}}</ref> ITV didn't renew the contract for the 2018–19 event and the rights moved to ].
	===Tour de France===
	ITV obtained the rights to this prestigious cycling event in 2002. The rights were previously held by ]. Live coverage came at weekends, previously on ] though now on ITV4, with daily highlights shows in the evenings on ITV4, and late night weekly highlights on ITV. Coverage was fronted by ]. ] also broadcast the event, with all stages live

			The main host of ITV Boxing was ] and until 1996 the main commentators were ] and ], both of whom moved to Sky while continuing to commentate for the few boxing shows ITV televised in the late 1990s, which were presented by ]. ] commentated on boxing on a regional basis during the late 1990s. When boxing returned to ITV on a regular basis in 2005 Jim Rosenthal resumed presenting duties and ] left Sky Sports to continue his role as a pundit on ITV. ] and ] were the commentators and Gabriel Clarke provided reports and conducted interviews with the boxers.
	===NFL Super Bowl===
	America's biggest sporting showpiece is also broadcast live on ITV. The network obtained the rights to the playoffs and the final from ], who now only broadcast the regular season. A three-year deal was signed for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Super Bowls. ITV broadcast highlights of the playoffs preceding the final, with the Super Bowl itself live on ITV1, presented by Gary Imlach from the host stadium.

	===~~Darts~~===		===Commonwealth Games===
			The only ITV coverage of the ] has been of the ] in ], which was shared with the BBC.<ref>''TV Times'', 13–19 July 1958</ref> Otherwise this event has been shown exclusively on the BBC.
	On ] ], ITV Sport announced they would be showing an all new darts tournament "The Grand Slam Of Darts". Live coverage will be shown on ITV1 and ITV4 as well as nightly highlights throughout the week of the tournament. It is unknown who will present this coverage, all though it is likely to be one of ITV's current sport presenters.<ref>{{cite news

	\| title = ITV to air darts grand slam
			===Cricket===
	\| publisher = ]
			Cricket has only been shown very occasionally on ITV with the ] between 1963–1969 and England home test matches with alternative rotation of coverage with the BBC between 1966 and 1968. The BBC had been the major broadcaster of cricket during the 20th century until it lost all of its cricket coverage to Channel 4 in 1999. However, during the BBC's dominance of coverage of the sport ITV occasionally broadcast cricket on a regional basis, such as the Roses matches between Yorkshire and Lancashire which were shown in the north of England. ITV also showed highlights of England's overseas tour of New Zealand in 1988.
	\| date =

	\| url = http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2081130,00.html
			There was to be no further cricket on ITV until in 2010 the broadcaster signed a deal to show the 2010 Indian Premier League<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/mar/04/itv-ipl-cricket\|title=ITV buys IPL cricket rights\|first=Mark\|last=Sweney\|date=4 March 2010\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> and encouraged by the success of having aired the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010, on a one-year contract, UK broadcaster ITV has signed a new four-year deal with ] for the UK broadcast rights to the IPL. In February 2014 ITV lost coverage of the IPL from the 2015 season to Sky Sports.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/17/bskyb-uk-rights-ipl-twenty20-cricket\|title=BSkyB wins UK rights to IPL Twenty20 live cricket coverage\|first=Jason\|last=Deans\|date=17 February 2014\|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
	\| accessdate = 2006-05-21 }}</ref>

			ITV also broadcast highlights of the 2010/11 Ashes series<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/nov/17/itv-ashes-cricket-highlights\|title=ITV to air nightly Ashes highlights show\|first=Mark\|last=Sweney\|date=17 November 2010\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> and the 2015 Cricket World Cup.<ref>{{cite web\|title=ITV to show Cricket World Cup Highlights\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/27/itv-scores-cricket-world-cup-highlights\|work=The Guardian\|date=27 January 2015\|access-date=27 January 2015}}</ref>

			===Football===
			Previously, ITV held the rights to English top flight football highlights (both in its current iteration as the ] and as the old ]). It acquired the Premiership highlights in 2000 for the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, surprising the BBC, the previous holders, and ending '']'' as a weekly programme. The ITV programme was titled '']'' and was presented by Des Lynam (himself formerly a presenter for ''Match of the Day''), Matt Smith or Gabby Logan. The show originally went out at 7pm, but this ended up being unpopular with viewers and advertisers. As such, the show was moved to 10.30pm only a few months later. During this period, '']'' was aired on Saturday during the football matches taking place on that day to provide live scores and match reports.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m79OhrRAKzg \|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/m79OhrRAKzg \|archive-date=22 December 2021 \|url-status=live\|title=ITV Granada Continuity – 15th December 2001\|last=ManMythandMirth\|date=20 December 2014\|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It used a similar format to '']'' on ] but never achieved good ratings. The programme ended in 2003. ITV held the Premiership rights for one three-year contract – the rights returned to the BBC for the start of the 2004–05 season.

			ITV had a long-standing association with European club football, which dates back to the earliest days of ITV in the 1950s. broadcasting the ] every year from 1992 through to 2015, exclusively from 1992 to 2003, before shared it with Sky Sports since 2003. From 1997, ITV began the habit of broadcasting additional matches from the competition, at first showing one extra match per week on either the ] or ] cable channels before, following the launch of On Digital, it showed every key match through special bespoke channels Champions on 28 and Champions on 99, later ONsport 1 and ONsport 2, as well as on ]. When ] launched, one match would be aired on ] with another on ITV4. This practice continued until 2009, when ITV reduced its output to just one live match per set in the competition on ITV1. This was due to ] gaining rights for the ] where 2 back to back games would be broadcast free to air on ITV4 with the final on ITV1. Live coverage ended in 2015 when BT Sport took over as exclusive broadcaster of the UEFA Champions League and ], although ITV's involvement with the competition remained through showing highlights of both competitions every matchweek.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/22/itv-champions-league-highlights-bt-sport\|title=ITV wins rights to Champions League highlights\|first=Mark\|last=Sweney\|date=22 November 2013\|work=The Guardian}}</ref> However ITV lost these rights in 2017 meaning that their coverage of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup ceased after the 2017/18 season as BT Sport won exclusive rights for live matches, highlights and online clip rights.<ref>{{cite web\|title=BT win exclusive UEFA Rights\|url=http://sport.bt.com/football/bt-retains-exclusive-rights-to-uefa-champions-league-and-uefa-europa-league-S11364161627708\|website=BT Sport\|publisher=BT\|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref>

			From 2008 until 2022 ITV covered all of England's international home friendlies and qualifiers for the European Championship and World Cup, the deal was extended to include away friendlies in 2009 and qualifiers from 2010 until it lost the rights to Channel 4 in 2022.<ref>{{cite web \| url=https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-wins-rights-englands-european-qualifiers-and-uefa-nations-league-matches \| title=Channel 4 wins rights to England's European Qualifiers and UEFA Nations League matches \| Channel 4 }}</ref> Latterly, the deal also included highlights of the new ] tournament were also obtained.<ref>{{cite web\|title=ITV extend England Rights to 2022\|url=http://www.itv.com/news/2017-01-26/itv-agree-deal-to-show-england-games-until-2022/\|website=itv.com\|date=26 January 2017\|publisher=ITV\|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref> ITV also cover one other European qualifier per round not involving a home nation on ITV4 as well, as showing highlights of the rest of the games including those of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. ] occasionally broadcasts England football matches on ] as well as ] when England and another home nation plays at the same time. ]s local stations such as ], would broadcast the home nation in that area with English viewing on ]. If people in Scotland want to watch an England match would need to switch to ].

			ITV also showed coverage of the African Cup of Nations on ITV4 from 2010 to 2015 with both live coverage and highlights, these rights were lost after 2015 to British Eurosport who show the tournament exclusively. ITV also showed highlights of the UEFA Champions League & Europa League from 2015 to 2018 after they lost their live rights but it was transferred to BT Sport after the 2018 final.

			In February 2019, ITV acquired the rights to show ]<nowiki/>r, the top flight of Spanish football alongside ] and ]. The deal means ITV will show 1 weekly live fixture, and a mid-week highlights program until the end of the ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-22/watch-la-liga-live-on-itv4-every-week-until-the-end-of-the-season-starting-with-levante-clash-with-giants-real-madrid/\|title=Watch La Liga live on ITV4 every week until the end of the season starting with Levante's clash with giants Real Madrid\|website=ITV News\|date=22 February 2019\|access-date=17 March 2019}}</ref> From the start of the ] season, ] became the exclusive UK broadcaster.

			===Formula 1===
			ITV covered ] during the 1976 and 1977 seasons and from {{f1\|1997}} to {{f1\|2008}}, after the BBC lost the rights. The deal, worth £60 million, offered extended pre and post race analysis and complete live coverage of qualifying, thanks to a deal negotiated with ]'s ]. ITV chose to bid for the rights due to constantly being beaten at weekends while the ''Grand Prix'' coverage was on.<ref name=walker>{{cite book \| title = Murray Walker: Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken \| first = Murray \| last = Walker \| author-link = Murray Walker \| isbn = 0-00-712696-4 \| publisher = ] \| date = September 2002 \| pages = \| url-access = registration \| url = https://archive.org/details/myautobiographyu00walk/page/217 }}</ref>

			ITV drew criticism for airing advertisement breaks during the races – they were obliged to take five three-minute commercial breaks during each race. In {{f1\|2005}} the network angered fans by running adverts during the tense conclusion to the ]. ITV repeated the last three laps after the race but were inundated with complaints from angry viewers. As a result of these complaints, the server on their website crashed and they were fined by regulator ]. An on-air apology was made before the start of the ] two weeks later.<ref name="ITVBreaksapology1">{{cite news \| title = Rosenthal sorry for race break \| work = The Guardian\| url = https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/apr/25/formulaone.matthewhancock \| access-date =12 June 2008 \| location=London \| first=Matthew \| last=Hancock \| date=25 April 2005}}</ref>

			In March 2008, ITV announced that they had enacted a clause within their contract enabling them to leave F1 coverage after the 2008 season. It is believed this was done for commercial reasons and to allow more money to be spent on securing coverage of the ]. The BBC took over the contract, providing coverage from 2009 until 2015.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/mar/21/sportsrights.bbc?INTCMP=SRCH\|title=F1 returns to BBC but ITV wins Champions League\|first=Owen\|last=Gibson\|date=21 March 2008\|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

			In December 2015, ITV was rumoured to be making a potential return to Formula One from the ]. However, the contract instead went to ], who would cover half of the races live like the BBC did from 2012 to 2015.

			===Golf===
			In the mid-1970s, ITV held the rights to golf's ] and broadcast the event on three occasions - ], ], and ] cups. ITV had the ] rights but the ] cup was not televised in the UK due to the ]. The rights to the event reverted to the BBC in 1981.

			] also broadcast the 1972 and 1973 ].<ref>{{cite news \|newspaper=The Times \|date=12 July 1972 \|page=I \|title=Golf – Rich plum beyond reach of sponsors}}</ref><ref name=times12jan1973>{{cite news \|newspaper=The Times \|date=12 January 1973 \|page=7 \|title=Golf –Scottish Open moves to the Old course}}</ref>

			Golf coverage switched from ITV to Channel 4 when it launched in 1982 before disappearing from ITV Sport altogether by the mid-1980s.

			===Motorsport===
			For the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 seasons ITV and ITV4 showed live coverage of Formula E, the races were presented by Jennie Gow from London and commentary was provided by the world feed of Jack Nicholls and ]. Again, these rights were lost to Channel 5 for the 2016–2017 season, then for the 2018–19 season the rights went to the BBC, Quest, and BT Sport.

			ITV4 also showed coverage of the World Rally Championship in the mid-2000s under their speed Sunday banner and again from 2012 to 2015 again losing the rights to Channel 5.

			===Olympic Games===
			ITV covered the summer ] 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1988. Costs associated with staff working overseas prevented coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but the Games returned to ITV screens for one last time in 1988, sharing the coverage with Channel 4 – Channel 4 showing the overnight and breakfast coverage with ITV covering the daytime action as well as broadcasting early evening highlights programmes.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/09/olympics-2012-tv-coverage\|title=Olympics TV coverage: ITV gave up the battle long ago\|first=Maggie\|last=Brown\|date=9 August 2012\|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

			ITV has never fully broadcast the ].

			===Power Snooker===
			In 2010 and 2011 ITV introduced a new ] called ]. These were the only two occasions on which the sport was played. Power Snooker was a hybrid between snooker and pool.

			===Rugby Union===
			On the back of its successful broadcasting of the 1991 World Cup, ITV showed a variety of rugby, including the ], Autumn Internationals and even some club rugby, though this was restricted to certain regions. This ended in 1996 when ] increased its rugby union coverage, which included Sky taking over as broadcaster of the ].

			===Tennis===
			In 2011, ITV Sport won the rights from the BBC to show the French Open<ref>{{cite news\| url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/28/itv-french-open-tennis-tv-rights \| location=London \| work=The Guardian \| first=Jason \| last=Deans \| title=ITV nets French Open tennis TV rights \| date=28 October 2011}}</ref> and started televising the event in 2012. The bulk of the daily coverage was broadcast on ITV4 although both singles finals plus other weekend matches were shown on ITV. In 2018, ITV renewed its deal to show the tournament for another 3 years.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web\|url=http://sport-onthebox.com/2014/06/06/itv-retains-french-open-rights-to-2018/\|title=ITV Sport retains French Open rights to 2021\|last=SOTB\|date=6 June 2014}}</ref> From 2022, Eurosport won exclusive rights to the French Open, ending a 10-year spell of the French Open being on ITV.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://sport-onthebox.com/2021/06/11/eurosport-discovery-roland-garros-french-open-tennis-uk-tv-rights-2022-2026/\|title=Eurosport secures exclusive Roland Garros rights from 2022\|date=11 June 2021}}</ref> For the final year ITV broadcast the French Open, ] hosted the coverage with commentators including ] and ]. Analysts and Co-commentators included ], ], ], ], ] and ].

			===Wimbledon===
			During the 1960s ITV covered the ] tennis tournament alongside the BBC.

			===Wrestling===
			Wrestling was shown as part of ITV's flagship sports programme ''World of Sport'' until the programme was cancelled in 1985. Its many stars included Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, and it received viewing figures of 8 million every week.

			After that, wrestling was shown as a programme in its own right, moving to a lunchtime slot. This continued until ITV decided to end its coverage of wrestling at the end of 1988. '']'' returned on New Year's Day 2017 with a new generation of British Wrestlers and commentary from legendary WWE commentator Jim 'JR' Ross and former British Wrestler Alex Shane.

	==References==		==References==
			{{Reflist}}
	<references/>

	==External links==		==External links==
	* ~~at ]~~		*{{itv.com\|id=sport\|title=ITV Sport}}
			* on ]

	{{ITV}}		{{ITV}}
			{{Authority control}}

			{{DEFAULTSORT:ITV Sport}}
	]
			]
			]
	]		]
	]

Latest revision as of 14:43, 15 December 2024

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "ITV Sport" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Sport producer for ITV

ITV Sport

Company type	Sports coverage
Genre	Sport
Predecessor	Granada Sport; Carlton Sport; LSN (London News Network)
Founded	1985 (1985)
Founder	ITV Network
Headquarters	London, England
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Niall Sloane (ITV Director of Sport); Mark Demuth (Controller of Sport Production)
Parent	ITV Studios
Website	itv.com/sport

ITV Sport is the sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title for networked sports programming produced by ITV's regional franchises. The division took its current form in 2004 amid the acquisition of Carlton Television by Granada Television to form ITV plc, after which the sports departments of Granada, Carlton, and London News Network were amalgamated to form ITV Sport.

The majority of ITV Sport programmes are broadcast on ITV4 although live football, major horse races and the Rugby World Cup are shown on the ITV network (ITV1, STV and UTV). ITV2 and ITV3 are only used when ITV are showing sport on both ITV1 and ITV4.

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of ITV Sport.

ITV Sport was created as an umbrella brand for sport programmes on the ITV network; no programmes were actually produced by ITV Sport during this time, but rather the 15 ITV companies each produced sports shows for the umbrella brand, such as World of Sport by LWT and Midweek Sports Special by Thames Television.

In 2004, Granada and Carlton merged, creating a single company for all ITV franchises in England and Wales. The current ITV sport department was formed from the amalgamation of Granada Sport, Carlton's (previously Central's) sports department and LSN, the sport division of London News Network.

Former Sport channel

Main article: ITV Sport Channel

ITV used to have a dedicated sports channel on the ITV Digital network. Originally broadcasting UEFA Champions League football and ATP Masters Series tennis under the brand ONsport, it was renamed as the ITV Sport Channel. Lasting for just one football season, the ITV Sport Channel launched on Saturday 11 August 2001 and closed on Saturday 12 May 2002.

Pay-per-view

ITV Sport Select

During the 2001–02 football season ITV showed the on-demand Premier League football matches from Sky Sports on a channel called ITV Sport Select.

ITV Box Office

ITV launched its pay-per-view channel, ITV Box Office, on 4 February 2017 when it showed coverage of Chris Eubank Jr.'s world title boxing fight against Renold Quinlan. On 24 January 2020 the channel announced its closure via a message posted on the ITV Box Office web page: "The ITV Box Office service has ceased as of 24th January 2020. There are no further plans to show any future events on this channel."

Current ITV Sport coverage

Football

ITV holds joint rights for the FIFA World Cup with the BBC and has shown every World Cup live since 1966, on a shared basis with the BBC. The same arrangement has been in place for many years for coverage of the UEFA European Championship, which ITV first covered in 1972. Since 2020, ITV has also shared the tournament with the BBC, under an agreement most recently through 2028.

ITV shared the rights for the FA Cup with the BBC from 1955 to 1988 and again since 2021 with both broadcasters covering the final live. This was generally the only UK match shown live on television every season. Both broadcasters started coverage from early morning trying to gain the upper hand on their rival. ITV regained the live rights to broadcast the FA Cup exclusively on terrestrial television in 1997, showing each final with Sky from 1998 to 2001 while the BBC screened highlights on Match of the Day. The FA Cup then reverted to the BBC until 2008 when ITV regained the FA Cup and England rights. However, their coverage of the competition was criticised after a string of errors including poor camera angles, very short highlight shows and, most notably, the incident during the Fourth Round derby between Everton and Liverpool in the 2008–09 competition. After a goalless 90 minutes, the game went to extra-time. And when young midfielder Dan Gosling scored the winner in the second half of extra-time, ITV accidentally cut to adverts, causing viewers to miss the goal. Eventually, ITV lost these rights from the end of the 2013–14 season to BBC Sport. On 23 May 2019, ITV regained the rights from BT Sport from 2021 to 2022 making the FA Cup fully free to air for the first time since 1988.

In 2024, ITV Sport commissioned pianist, composer, and singer Hania Rani to create the music featured in the opening credits of their football coverage for England national football team matches.

ITV football presenters

Since 2015, ITV's main football host is Mark Pougatch. Previous presenters of ITV's football coverage include Jim Rosenthal (1983–88), Elton Welsby (1988–92), Matthew Lorenzo (1993–94), Bob Wilson (1994–99), Des Lynam (1999–2004), Gabby Logan (2004–06), Steve Rider (2006–10) and Adrian Chiles (2010–14).

Motorsport

The British Touring Car Championship is another series ITV won away from the BBC, doing so in 2002 and in 2004, ITV introduced live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship for the first time on network television. Previously the BBC had shown occasional races live, but not to this extent. All meetings have been broadcast live by ITV Sport since. The races are now shown live on ITV4 and highlights are shown on ITV on Tuesday early morning on the corresponding weekend. Vicki Butler-Henderson and Ben Edwards were the presenters from 2002 to 2005, with Ted Kravitz and Louise Goodman taking over in 2006. Steve Rider replaced Kravitz in 2009.

In 2006, ITV replaced Channel 4 as the terrestrial broadcaster of the British Superbike Championship.

From 2014 to 2016 ITV4 showed highlights of MotoGP which aired on the Monday night after the race, the BT Sport team contributed to the commentary and was in essence a BT Sport production for ITV. These rights were lost to Channel 5 for the 2017 season, then the rights went to Quest for the 2019 season. In 2021, ITV4 regained the rights to MotoGP highlights, and showed the French GP live, with the British GP due to be shown on ITV.

Rugby Union

The network has broadcast every Rugby World Cup live since 1991, being host broadcaster in 1991, 1999 and 2015. The only tournament that ITV has not shown has been the inaugural tournament held in 1987.

When, in 1996, Sky Sports controversially won the rights to show highlights of England home internationals, including the Five Nations, ITV sub-licensed highlights rights to those games.

At the same time ITV started coverage of the international Rugby Sevens series. This took the form of highlights of most tournaments, with live coverage of those held in England and Wales. ITV lost those rights to Sky Sports in 2006, but between 2015 has been showing highlights once again.

ITV has shown coverage of the Heineken Cup at various points during the tournament's history. ITV showed live coverage of semi-finals and final of the very first and for a single season in 2001, when Premium TV failed to launch its channel on time, which it used to bolster the ITV Sport Channel. ITV resumed its coverage of the tournament in 2022 when it replaced Channel 4 as the event's terrestrial broadcaster.

Between the 2008–09 and 2016–17 seasons ITV Sport showed a weekly highlights programme of all Premiership Rugby and Anglo-Welsh Cup matches. These rights went to Channel 5, who also broadcast five live matches between 2017 and 2021. In 2022, coverage of the Premiership returned with ITV showing seven live matches a season including the final. This continues for the 2023–24 season.

From 2016, in reaction to satellite pay-TV bids from Sky and BT for coverage of the Six Nations Championship from 2017, the BBC agreed to lose exclusive rights to the tournament two years early in order for the BBC and ITV to jointly bid for the rights of the tournament to keep the Six Nations on free-to-air television. On 9 July 2015, the bid was accepted, and ITV and BBC became joint broadcasters of the Six Nations in the UK from 2016 to 2021. ITV would broadcast all England, Ireland and Italy home matches live, while BBC would broadcast all France, Scotland and Wales home matches live. Mark Pougatch and Jill Douglas present ITV's coverage of the Six Nations. Prior to the 2022 tournament, ITV extended their contract up and including 2025. The new deal would see them continue to broadcast home matches from England, Ireland and Italy and additionally broadcast those from France. The new deal also means they would broadcast matches in peak time for the first time.

On 4 February 2017, it was announced that ITV had extended its contract for the Rugby World Cup until the 2023 tournament. The deal also includes live coverage of the Women's Rugby World Cup for the first time and the Under 20 World Cup. ITV previously showed highlights of the WRWC in 2001.

Horse Racing

Until the mid-1980s, horse racing was shown regularly on ITV. Racing was a mainstay of World of Sport throughout the programme's run with the ITV Seven featuring almost every week. ITV also showed racing during the week. ITV showed many of racing's showpiece events, including all the flat racing classics, although the channel never showed The Grand National as this event was covered by the BBC. In the mid-1980s coverage was switched to Channel 4. In March 1984, ITV's midweek action was moved with Saturday's racing coverage making the switch in October 1985 a week after the final edition of World of Sport was broadcast. ITV continued to broadcast coverage of The Derby, simulcasting Channel 4's coverage, but stopped doing so after the 1988 event and this was the last time that horse racing was broadcast on ITV until 2017.

On 1 January 2016 it was announced ITV Sport had won rights to be the exclusive free to air home of British Horse Racing from 1 January 2017 taking over from Channel 4 which had taken ITV rights previously in the 1980s. ITV deal encompassed Horse Racing every Saturday Afternoon on ITV or ITV4 as well as covering the major festivals on ITV. This deal meant ITV were able to cover festivals such as The Grand National, Cheltenham and Royal Ascot which they previously were not allowed to cover when they covered Horse Racing on World of Sport and also meant The Derby returning to the channel in 2017 for the first time since 1988.

ITV's Racing coverage encompasses coverage of approximately 100 days of racing each year with 41 days on ITV and 60 days on ITV4. ITV main Racing Presenter is Ed Chamberlin who signed for coverage from Sky Sports and Francesca Cumani who hosts during the Flat season. Oli Bell also joined ITV as a presenter of the Opening Show and which is broadcast live every Saturday Morning on ITV4. Oli also covers main presenter duties for Chamberlain when he is off.

Cycling

ITV obtained the rights to the Tour de France in 2002, replacing Channel 4 as the UK terrestrial broadcaster. The intention behind the purchase was to provide live content for the ITV Sport Channel during the football off-season. The coverage is shown on ITV4, having aired in previous years on ITV2 and ITV3. Initially, live coverage was only broadcast at the weekend but since the 2010 Tour de France, ITV4 has broadcast daily live coverage of every stage except the final which is shown on ITV. ITV4 also airs nightly highlights shows.

Following the ratings success of the Tour de France, ITV invested in more cycling coverage and now shows the Women's Tour Tour of Britain and Tour de Yorkshire live. It shows highlights of La Vuelta, having previously showed that race live before it regularly clashed with the Tour of Britain. ITV has previously shown the Tour of Ireland.

ITV also has highlights to the Tour Series cycling, and several of the classic French races, such as Paris-Roubaix.

Darts

ITV was the first broadcaster of darts in the United Kingdom back in 1972. They covered many tournaments on World of Sport, including the News of the World Championship and the Winmau World Masters. When World of Sport ended ITV scaled back its darts coverage and dropped darts altogether in 1988 and with the exception of a single one-off event, the 1999 Match of the Century between PDC World Champion Phil Taylor and BDO World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. It would be almost 20 years before ITV resumed coverage of the sport when in 2007, ITV Sport announced they would be covering a new darts tournament, the Grand Slam of Darts, comprising champions of both the BDO and PDC tournaments. ITV covered the event between 2007 and 2010 – coverage then moved to Sky Sports.

In 2011 ITV signed a new contract with the PDC to show the European Darts Championship in July and the Second Players Championship Finals of 2011.

On 14 June 2013 the PDC and ITV announced they had signed a new deal to cover four tournaments a year from 2013 to 2015. The tournaments are The Players Championship which they had covered from 2009 to 2010 and from December 2011 – present, The European Championship which they covered previously in 2008 and 2011, a new tournament called the Masters where the top 16 face in other in a three-day tournament, and the UK Open, otherwise known as the FA Cup of Darts, which had previously been shown on Sky.

In late 2014 it was announced ITV signed a deal to cover five darts tournaments in 2015 covering a new tournament entitled the World Series of Darts Finals. This means that in 2015 ITV will cover the Masters in January, the UK Open in March, the European Championship in October, the World Series of Darts Finals and Players Championship Finals in November.

Snooker

In the 1980s and early 1990s, ITV broadcast up to four Major Snooker Tournaments per season including The Jameson International, The World Doubles Championship, The World Matchplay (which replaced the World Doubles in 1988), The Lada/Mercantile Credit Classic and The British Open. Daytime action was sometimes shown on Channel 4 until 1988. However, ITV decided to axe all of its snooker after the 1993 British Open and apart from a brief return to the green baize in 2000 and 2001, the sport was absent from ITV screens for more than 20 years.

ITV started to broadcast snooker again in February 2013. ITV4 broadcast the World Open. It was announced in June 2013 that ITV4 will cover the new tournament entitled the Champion of Champions from November 2013. In summer 2014 ITV and Barry Hearn announced they had signed a 5-year deal to cover 2 Snooker Tournaments per year, keeping coverage of the Champion of Champions and a new tournament called the World Grand Prix. In August 2015, World Snooker announced that ITV4 would televise the Snooker Shoot Out in a three-year deal through to 2018. As of 2021 ITV4 shows the Champion of Champions, World Grand Prix, Players Championship, Tour Championship and the new British Open.

Sports Life Stories

ITV Sport's award-winning documentary strand has featured the stories of many sporting greats. Sports Life Stories series one was first shown on ITV4 in 2012 and included episodes on Ronnie O'Sullivan, Kelly Holmes, Fabrice Muamba, Barry McGuigan, Gareth Thomas, Brian Lara, Amir Khan and Lawrence Dallaglio. Series two first shown on ITV4 in 2013 included episodes on James Cracknell, David Weir, Nicola Adams, Jermain Defoe, Eric Bristow, Chris Eubank, Didier Drogba and Jimmy White. Series 3 returns in February 2015. Reporters on the series have included Gabriel Clarke, Ned Boulting, Adam Darke and Leon Mann.

List of current ITV Sport rights

Football

Football broadcasting rights To ITV
Competition	Region	Broadcast details
FA Cup		Live coverage of more than 20 matches will be shown each season from 2021/22 through to 2024/25 alongside BBC Sport

Football

FIFA World Cup: All matches live on BBC Sport & ITV Sport (2018–2022)
UEFA European Championship Finals: All matches live on BBC Sport & ITV Sport (Until 2028)
FA Community Shield: (2021–present)
EFL Championship, League One, League Two, EFL Cup & EFL Trophy Highlights (2022–present: EFL League highlights on ITV4 and repeated on ITV1)
FA Youth Cup: Semi-finals and final are shown live on ITV4
England National Women's Team: 2021–present
Arnold Clark Cup: 2022–present
La Liga - 10 live matches per season

Rugby Union

Men's Rugby World Cup: All matches Live on ITV1, ITV3 & ITV4 (to 2023)
Women's Rugby World Cup: Live on ITV1 and ITV4 until 2021
World Rugby U20 Championship: Live on ITV4 until 2023
Six Nations Championship: ITV has rights to England, France, Ireland and Italy home games (2022–2025)
Premiership Rugby: 5 live matches in 2021–22 to include the final plus a weekly highlights show. Coverage increasing to seven live matches in 2022–23 and 2023–24.
European Rugby Champions Cup - 8 live matches per season including final & highlights (to 2023/24)

Motorsport

British Touring Car Championship: Live on ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 (to 2026)
MotoGP: 2 Races Live on ITV1, ITV3 & ITV4 with highlights of all races on ITV4
World Superbike Championship: Highlights on ITV4
British Superbike Championship: Highlights on ITV4
Isle of Man TT: Highlights on ITV4
Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival and Goodwood Members Meeting: Live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4
British F3 Championship highlights
World Rally Championship: Highlights on ITV4
Extreme E: Live on ITV1

Boxing

Premier Boxing Champions: Live on ITV4

Snooker

World Mixed Doubles: Live on ITV1 and ITV4
British Open: Live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4
Champion of Champions: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
World Grand Prix: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
Players Championship: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
Tour Championship: Live on ITV3 and ITV4

Darts

UK Open: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
European Championship: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
The Masters: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
World Series of Darts Finals: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
Players Championship Finals: Live on ITV3 and ITV4
World Series of Darts: Delayed and live coverage of 6 events on ITV3 and ITV4 (Delayed coverage of events outside UK & Europe)

Cycling

Tour de France: Live Coverage & Highlights on ITV4
La Course by Le Tour de France: Live on ITV4
Tour of Britain: Live coverage & Highlights on ITV4
Women's Tour of Britain: Highlights on ITV4
Tour de Yorkshire: Live on ITV4
Vuelta a Espana: Highlights on ITV4
British Road Race Championships: Highlights on ITV4
Tour Series: Highlights on ITV4

Horse Racing

Exclusive terrestrial rights to a minimum of 95 days of racing, live on ITV1, ITV3 and ITV4 including Cheltenham Festival, Grand National, Derby & Royal Ascot

American Football

Two London Games and the Super Bowl live plus weekly highlights until 2024/25

Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling (2019–present, AEW Dynamite & Rampage reruns on ITV4 and highlights on ITV1)

List of current ITV Sport personnel

Football

Presenters:

Mark Pougatch
Seema Jaswal (Also works for BBC Sport and Premier League Productions)
Laura Woods (also works for Amazon Prime Video & TNT Sports)

Pundits:

Eni Aluko (Also works for Amazon Prime Video)
Ashley Cole
Lee Dixon (Also works for Amazon Prime Video and NBC Sports)
Roy Keane (Also works for Sky Sports)
Ally McCoist (Also works for Amazon Prime Video, Viaplay Sports, TNT Sports, Sky Sports and talkSPORT)
Ian Wright (Also works for BBC Sport)
Karen Carney (Also works for Sky Sports and Amazon Prime Video)
Emma Hayes

Commentators:

Sam Matterface (Also works for talkSPORT and Premier League Productions)
Seb Hutchinson (Also works for BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports and Premier League Productions)
Joe Speight (Also works for TNT Sports, Premier League Productions and NBC Sports)
Tom Gayle (Also works for BBC Sport and Premier League Productions)

Reporters:

Gabriel Clarke (Also works for Amazon Prime Video)
Katie Shanahan (Also works for Sky Sports)

Cycling

Presenter:

Gary Imlach

Pundits:

Chris Boardman (Also works for BBC Sport)
Peter Kennaugh

Commentators:

Darts

Presenter:

Jacqui Oatley

Pundits:

Chris Mason (Also works for Online Live League Darts & talkSPORT)
Alan Warriner-Little
Mark Webster (Also works for Sky Sports)

Commentators:

Stuart Pyke (Also works for Sky Sports)
John Rawling (Also works for talkSPORT and Eurosport/Quest)

Reporter:

Horse Racing

Presenters:

Pundits:

Commentators:

Richard Hoiles
Mark Johnson
Ian Bartlett

Reporters:

Matt Chapman (Also works for Sky Sports Racing)
Mick Fitzgerald
Brian Gleeson
Sally-Ann Grassick
Luke Harvey
Rishi Persad
Alice Plunkett
Adele Mullrennan
Natalie Green
Charlotte Hawkins
Mark Heyes
Chris Hughes
Lucy Verasamy

Motorsport

David Addison
Louise Goodman
Tim Harvey
Barry Nutley (Also works for Eurosport)
Niall Mackenzie (Also works for Eurosport)
Steve Rider
Paul O'Neill
Richard John-Neil
Phil Glew
Jade Edwards

Rugby Union

Presenters:

Martin Bayfield (also works for TNT Sports)
Craig Doyle (also works for TNT Sports)
Jill Douglas (also works for BBC Sport)
Mark Pougatch
David Flatman (also a commentator and also working for Amazon Prime & TNT Sports)
Topsy Ojo (also works for TNT Sports)
Hugh Woozencroft (also works for talkSPORT)

Pundits:

Maggie Alphonsi (also works for BBC Sport & Sky Sports)
Marco Bortolami
Lawrence Dallaglio (also works for TNT Sports)
Gordon D'Arcy (also works for RTE Sport & BBC Radio 5 Live)
Sean Fitzpatrick (also works for Sky Sports)
George Gregan
Bryan Habana
Jim Hamilton (also works for BBC Sport)
Scott Hastings (also works for Sky Sports)
Ben Kay (also works for TNT Sports)
Michael Lynagh (also works for Sky Sports)
Sir Ian McGeechan
Brian O'Driscoll (also works for TNT Sports)
Mike Phillips
Jamie Roberts (also works for Amazon & S4C)
Jason Robinson
Gareth Thomas
Sam Warburton (also works for BBC Sport & Amazon Prime)
Danielle Waterman
Shane Williams (also works for BBC Radio 5 Live)
Jonny Wilkinson
Sir Clive Woodward

Commentators:

Nick Mullins (also works for TNT Sports)
Miles Harrison (also works for Amazon Prime)
Martin Gillingham
Simon Ward

Reporters:

Gabriel Clarke
Jill Douglas
David Flatman

Snooker

Presenters:

Jill Douglas
Rishi Persad (also works for BBC Sport)
Oli Bell

Pundits:

Neal Foulds (also works for Eurosport/Quest)
Alan McManus (also works for Eurosport)
Stephen Hendry (also works for BBC Sport)
Ken Doherty (also works for BBC Sport)
Joe Perry (also works for BBC Sport)

Commentators:

David Hendon (also works for Eurosport/Quest)
Phil Yates (also works for Eurosport/Quest)

Reporters:

Rob Walker (also works for BBC Sport)
Laura Winter

Previous ITV Sport coverage

Athletics

In 1985, ITV won the rights to show British Athletics from the BBC. As well as broadcasting UK athletics, the channel also showed many of the major European evening meetings whereby ITV showed the first hour with the second hour broadcast on Channel 4. ITV also broadcast the 1983 and 1987 World Championships and the European Athletics Championships during the 1980s and in 1990. Again, some of the coverage was broadcast on Channel 4. Jim Rosenthal presented the coverage with commentary from Alan Parry, Peter Matthews and Steve Ovett. ITV scaled back its coverage of the sport in the early 1990s and decided to axe all remaining athletics coverage in 1997 and the sport has subsequently never been seen on the channel. Channel 4 briefly took the baton from ITV, showing UK meetings in 1997 and 1998, before coverage reverted to the BBC in 1999.

The Boat Race

In 2004, ITV won the rights to the annual Varsity Boat Race from the BBC. The contract ran to 2009. Hosts of the coverage were initially Gabby Logan and Mark Durden Smith. Craig Doyle took over as presenter, while Peter Drury commentated. James Cracknell acted as a co presenter and pundit. ITV Sport did not renew its contract for The Boat Race after its contract ended due to wanting to concentrate on football and the rights reverted to the BBC.

Boxing

ITV Sport has broadcast many boxing matches over the years under the Big Fight Live banner and the sport was a regular fixture on ITV screens until the mid-1990s when ITV lost its two premier contracts – in mid-1994 Barry Hearn took Chris Eubank and his stable of fighters to Sky Sports and at the start of 1995, Sky Sports won the rights to show Sports Network fights. This left ITV with only occasional boxing for the following ten years. Their only networked boxing during this period were a few fights involving Shea Neary, thanks to a contract with Merseyside promoter John Hyland. Other bouts were shown on ITV2 and the ill-fated ITV Sport Channel and some boxing was shown on a regional basis, but this was rare.

In May 2005, ITV returned to the ring with live coverage of Amir Khan's last fight before becoming professional against Mario Kindelan. It achieved a peak audience of 6.3 million viewers, encouraging ITV to reach a long-term agreement to broadcast the main share of Frank Warren's Sports Network fights and as a result broadcast fights involving Amir Khan, Joe Calzaghe, Danny Williams, Audley Harrison, Derek Chisora and others. Other highlights included Joe Calzaghe's emphatic victory over Jeff Lacy for the WBO and IBF super-middleweight world title at the Manchester MEN Arena in March 2006. During this period the main event was usually shown on the ITV Network while undercard matches were often televised on ITV4.

On 6 September 2008, Amir Khan switched to Sky from ITV, signalling the end of ITV's contract with Frank Warren's Sports Network promotion. Later that month, ITV announced a 2-year, 26-fight deal with Hennessy Sports. The majority of fights were screened on ITV4 and was once again hosted by Jim Rosenthal, who made an unexpected return to ITV having previously been axed in early 2008. Amir Khan moved back to ITV in 2010, when his fight against Paulie Malignaggi was broadcast live in the early hours of Sunday 15 May 2010. ITV also broadcast delayed coverage of at least one Carl Froch fight in America the night after it took place. ITV then decided to stop covering the sport as ITV thought that boxing was no longer commercially viable.

ITV made a return to boxing in 2015, covering Belfast world champion Carl Frampton live. In 2017 ITV showed Chris Eubank Jr.'s world title boxing fight against Renold Quinlan. The event launched ITV's new pay-per-view channel ITV Box Office. In 2017/18, ITV broadcast the inaugural World Boxing Super Series tournament. ITV didn't renew the contract for the 2018–19 event and the rights moved to Sky Sports.

The main host of ITV Boxing was Jim Rosenthal and until 1996 the main commentators were Reg Gutteridge and Jim Watt, both of whom moved to Sky while continuing to commentate for the few boxing shows ITV televised in the late 1990s, which were presented by Russ Williams. Graham Beecroft commentated on boxing on a regional basis during the late 1990s. When boxing returned to ITV on a regular basis in 2005 Jim Rosenthal resumed presenting duties and Barry McGuigan left Sky Sports to continue his role as a pundit on ITV. John Rawling and Duke McKenzie were the commentators and Gabriel Clarke provided reports and conducted interviews with the boxers.

Commonwealth Games

The only ITV coverage of the Commonwealth Games has been of the 1958 Games in Cardiff, which was shared with the BBC. Otherwise this event has been shown exclusively on the BBC.

Cricket

Cricket has only been shown very occasionally on ITV with the Gillette Cup between 1963–1969 and England home test matches with alternative rotation of coverage with the BBC between 1966 and 1968. The BBC had been the major broadcaster of cricket during the 20th century until it lost all of its cricket coverage to Channel 4 in 1999. However, during the BBC's dominance of coverage of the sport ITV occasionally broadcast cricket on a regional basis, such as the Roses matches between Yorkshire and Lancashire which were shown in the north of England. ITV also showed highlights of England's overseas tour of New Zealand in 1988.

There was to be no further cricket on ITV until in 2010 the broadcaster signed a deal to show the 2010 Indian Premier League and encouraged by the success of having aired the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010, on a one-year contract, UK broadcaster ITV has signed a new four-year deal with Sony Entertainment for the UK broadcast rights to the IPL. In February 2014 ITV lost coverage of the IPL from the 2015 season to Sky Sports.

ITV also broadcast highlights of the 2010/11 Ashes series and the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Football

Previously, ITV held the rights to English top flight football highlights (both in its current iteration as the Premier League and as the old Football League First Division). It acquired the Premiership highlights in 2000 for the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, surprising the BBC, the previous holders, and ending Match of the Day as a weekly programme. The ITV programme was titled The Premiership and was presented by Des Lynam (himself formerly a presenter for Match of the Day), Matt Smith or Gabby Logan. The show originally went out at 7pm, but this ended up being unpopular with viewers and advertisers. As such, the show was moved to 10.30pm only a few months later. During this period, The Goal Rush was aired on Saturday during the football matches taking place on that day to provide live scores and match reports. It used a similar format to Gillette Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports but never achieved good ratings. The programme ended in 2003. ITV held the Premiership rights for one three-year contract – the rights returned to the BBC for the start of the 2004–05 season.

ITV had a long-standing association with European club football, which dates back to the earliest days of ITV in the 1950s. broadcasting the UEFA Champions League every year from 1992 through to 2015, exclusively from 1992 to 2003, before shared it with Sky Sports since 2003. From 1997, ITV began the habit of broadcasting additional matches from the competition, at first showing one extra match per week on either the Granada Plus or Carlton Select cable channels before, following the launch of On Digital, it showed every key match through special bespoke channels Champions on 28 and Champions on 99, later ONsport 1 and ONsport 2, as well as on ITV2. When ITV4 launched, one match would be aired on ITV1 with another on ITV4. This practice continued until 2009, when ITV reduced its output to just one live match per set in the competition on ITV1. This was due to ITV gaining rights for the UEFA Europa League where 2 back to back games would be broadcast free to air on ITV4 with the final on ITV1. Live coverage ended in 2015 when BT Sport took over as exclusive broadcaster of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, although ITV's involvement with the competition remained through showing highlights of both competitions every matchweek. However ITV lost these rights in 2017 meaning that their coverage of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup ceased after the 2017/18 season as BT Sport won exclusive rights for live matches, highlights and online clip rights.

From 2008 until 2022 ITV covered all of England's international home friendlies and qualifiers for the European Championship and World Cup, the deal was extended to include away friendlies in 2009 and qualifiers from 2010 until it lost the rights to Channel 4 in 2022. Latterly, the deal also included highlights of the new UEFA Nations League tournament were also obtained. ITV also cover one other European qualifier per round not involving a home nation on ITV4 as well, as showing highlights of the rest of the games including those of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. ITV occasionally broadcasts England football matches on ITV2 as well as ITV1 when England and another home nation plays at the same time. ITVs local stations such as STV, would broadcast the home nation in that area with English viewing on ITV4. If people in Scotland want to watch an England match would need to switch to ITV2.

ITV also showed coverage of the African Cup of Nations on ITV4 from 2010 to 2015 with both live coverage and highlights, these rights were lost after 2015 to British Eurosport who show the tournament exclusively. ITV also showed highlights of the UEFA Champions League & Europa League from 2015 to 2018 after they lost their live rights but it was transferred to BT Sport after the 2018 final.

In February 2019, ITV acquired the rights to show LaLiga Santander, the top flight of Spanish football alongside Eleven Sports and Premier Sports. The deal means ITV will show 1 weekly live fixture, and a mid-week highlights program until the end of the 2018/19 season. From the start of the 2019–20 La Liga season, Premier Sports became the exclusive UK broadcaster.

Formula 1

ITV covered Formula One during the 1976 and 1977 seasons and from 1997 to 2008, after the BBC lost the rights. The deal, worth £60 million, offered extended pre and post race analysis and complete live coverage of qualifying, thanks to a deal negotiated with FOM's Bernie Ecclestone. ITV chose to bid for the rights due to constantly being beaten at weekends while the Grand Prix coverage was on.

ITV drew criticism for airing advertisement breaks during the races – they were obliged to take five three-minute commercial breaks during each race. In 2005 the network angered fans by running adverts during the tense conclusion to the San Marino Grand Prix. ITV repeated the last three laps after the race but were inundated with complaints from angry viewers. As a result of these complaints, the server on their website crashed and they were fined by regulator Ofcom. An on-air apology was made before the start of the next race in Spain two weeks later.

In March 2008, ITV announced that they had enacted a clause within their contract enabling them to leave F1 coverage after the 2008 season. It is believed this was done for commercial reasons and to allow more money to be spent on securing coverage of the UEFA Champions League. The BBC took over the contract, providing coverage from 2009 until 2015.

In December 2015, ITV was rumoured to be making a potential return to Formula One from the 2016 season. However, the contract instead went to Channel 4 F1, who would cover half of the races live like the BBC did from 2012 to 2015.

Golf

In the mid-1970s, ITV held the rights to golf's Ryder Cup and broadcast the event on three occasions - 1973, 1975, and 1977 cups. ITV had the 1979 rights but the 1979 cup was not televised in the UK due to the 1979 ITV strike. The rights to the event reverted to the BBC in 1981.

ITV also broadcast the 1972 and 1973 Scottish Open.

Golf coverage switched from ITV to Channel 4 when it launched in 1982 before disappearing from ITV Sport altogether by the mid-1980s.

Motorsport

For the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 seasons ITV and ITV4 showed live coverage of Formula E, the races were presented by Jennie Gow from London and commentary was provided by the world feed of Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti. Again, these rights were lost to Channel 5 for the 2016–2017 season, then for the 2018–19 season the rights went to the BBC, Quest, and BT Sport.

ITV4 also showed coverage of the World Rally Championship in the mid-2000s under their speed Sunday banner and again from 2012 to 2015 again losing the rights to Channel 5.

Olympic Games

ITV covered the summer Olympic Games 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1988. Costs associated with staff working overseas prevented coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but the Games returned to ITV screens for one last time in 1988, sharing the coverage with Channel 4 – Channel 4 showing the overnight and breakfast coverage with ITV covering the daytime action as well as broadcasting early evening highlights programmes.

ITV has never fully broadcast the Winter Olympics.

Power Snooker

In 2010 and 2011 ITV introduced a new cue sport called Power Snooker. These were the only two occasions on which the sport was played. Power Snooker was a hybrid between snooker and pool.

Rugby Union

On the back of its successful broadcasting of the 1991 World Cup, ITV showed a variety of rugby, including the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand, Autumn Internationals and even some club rugby, though this was restricted to certain regions. This ended in 1996 when Sky Sports increased its rugby union coverage, which included Sky taking over as broadcaster of the British and Irish Lions.

Tennis

In 2011, ITV Sport won the rights from the BBC to show the French Open and started televising the event in 2012. The bulk of the daily coverage was broadcast on ITV4 although both singles finals plus other weekend matches were shown on ITV. In 2018, ITV renewed its deal to show the tournament for another 3 years. From 2022, Eurosport won exclusive rights to the French Open, ending a 10-year spell of the French Open being on ITV. For the final year ITV broadcast the French Open, John Inverdale hosted the coverage with commentators including Nick Mullins and Jonathan Overend. Analysts and Co-commentators included Marion Bartoli, Jim Courier, Anne Keothavong, Mark Petchey, Fabrice Santoro and Sam Smith.

Wimbledon

During the 1960s ITV covered the Wimbledon tennis tournament alongside the BBC.

Wrestling

Wrestling was shown as part of ITV's flagship sports programme World of Sport until the programme was cancelled in 1985. Its many stars included Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, and it received viewing figures of 8 million every week.

After that, wrestling was shown as a programme in its own right, moving to a lunchtime slot. This continued until ITV decided to end its coverage of wrestling at the end of 1988. World of Sport Wrestling returned on New Year's Day 2017 with a new generation of British Wrestlers and commentary from legendary WWE commentator Jim 'JR' Ross and former British Wrestler Alex Shane.

References

^ Milmo, Dan (15 November 2003). "Carlton-Granada merger clears last hurdle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
"offthetelly.co.uk". Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
SOTB (13 December 2016). "Chris Eubank Jnr to fight on new ITV Box Office channel".
"ITV Box Office Closure notice". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
"The BBC and ITV to show UEFA Euro 2024 and UEFA Euro 2028". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
Tryhorn, Chris (30 March 2007). "ITV to pay £275m for FA Cup". The Guardian.
Gibson, Owen (17 July 2013). "BBC and BT Sport to share FA Cup TV rights". The Guardian.
"UEFA Nations League". ITVX. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
"ITV secure Euro rugby cup deal", Evening Herald, 25 October 1995
ITV to show Heineken Cup
Premiership Rugby seals new partnership with ITV Sport
"ITV announce Horse Racing Deal". ITV Press Centre. ITV. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
"ITV Horse Racing Line Up". ITV. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
"Planet Darts | Tournaments | Players Championship Finals | Players Championship Finals | ITV4 to Show Players Championship Finals". Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
"ITV Darts 2015". Sport on the Box. 15 November 2014.
"ITV new deal with World Snooker". Sport on the Box. 24 April 2014.
"ITV4 To Televise Snooker Shoot-Out – World Snooker". 14 August 2015.
"Lennon and Samuel land SJA's major prizes – Sports Journalists' Association". sportsjournalists.co.uk. 24 March 2014.
"BBC and ITV win rights to 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cup finals". BBC. 7 June 2014.
"The 2021 Community Shield live on ITV1 this weekend".
"ITV to broadcast EFL Highlights from next season".
"ITV to become home of England Women's Football team".
"ITV to show inaugural Arnold Clark Cup featuring Lionesses".
"ITV gain rights to 10 LA Liga matches". Sports Business. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
"Rise for the Rugby World Cup on ITV". 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
"Six Nations set to stay on BBC & ITV". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
"ITV win Heineken Cup Rights". ITV Sport. ITV. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
"MotoGP: Free-to-air races on ITV "crucial" for UK fans".
"ITV and NFL announce three-year partnership". Press Centre. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
AEW ANNOUNCES UK BROADCAST DETAILS, PRE-SHOW FOR DOUBLE OR NOTHING F4wonline. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
Plunkett, John (26 November 2004). "BBC loses Boat Race radio rights". The Guardian.
"Hatton, Calzaghe and Khan on ITV". BBC News. 1 July 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2007.
BFI Film & Television Database: "The Big Fight – Live!"
"Frampton fight live on ITV". ITV News. ITV. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
"ITV to show Eubank Jnr World Title fight". ITV. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
WBSS. "George Groves, Chris Eubank Jr. WBSS bouts head to ITV Box Office". WBN – World Boxing News. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
TV Times, 13–19 July 1958
Sweney, Mark (4 March 2010). "ITV buys IPL cricket rights". The Guardian.
Deans, Jason (17 February 2014). "BSkyB wins UK rights to IPL Twenty20 live cricket coverage". The Guardian.
Sweney, Mark (17 November 2010). "ITV to air nightly Ashes highlights show". The Guardian.
"ITV to show Cricket World Cup Highlights". The Guardian. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
ManMythandMirth (20 December 2014). "ITV Granada Continuity – 15th December 2001". Archived from the original on 22 December 2021 – via YouTube.
Sweney, Mark (22 November 2013). "ITV wins rights to Champions League highlights". The Guardian.
"BT win exclusive UEFA Rights". BT Sport. BT. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
"Channel 4 wins rights to England's European Qualifiers and UEFA Nations League matches | Channel 4".
"ITV extend England Rights to 2022". itv.com. ITV. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
"Watch La Liga live on ITV4 every week until the end of the season starting with Levante's clash with giants Real Madrid". ITV News. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
Walker, Murray (September 2002). Murray Walker: Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken. CollinsWillow. pp. 217–223. ISBN 0-00-712696-4.
Hancock, Matthew (25 April 2005). "Rosenthal sorry for race break". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
Gibson, Owen (21 March 2008). "F1 returns to BBC but ITV wins Champions League". The Guardian.
"Golf – Rich plum beyond reach of sponsors". The Times. 12 July 1972. p. I.
"Golf –Scottish Open moves to the Old course". The Times. 12 January 1973. p. 7.
Brown, Maggie (9 August 2012). "Olympics TV coverage: ITV gave up the battle long ago". The Guardian.
Deans, Jason (28 October 2011). "ITV nets French Open tennis TV rights". The Guardian. London.
SOTB (6 June 2014). "ITV Sport retains French Open rights to 2021".
"Eurosport secures exclusive Roland Garros rights from 2022". 11 June 2021.

External links

ITV Sport at itv.com
ITV Sport on ITVX

ITV

Channels

Current

ITV (network)	ITV1 ITV1 HD STV UTV
ITV Digital Channels	ITV2 ITV3 ITV4 ITVBe
ITV Studios	ITV Choice

Former

Companies

Current	ITV plc STV Group plc
Former	Alpha Television Carlton Communications plc Granada plc ITC Entertainment Video Collection International Pickwick Video Group The Rank Organisation General Film Distributors Carlton Screen Advertising ITV Digital Ltd Trident Television UTV Media plc Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television

Divisions,
brands and
services

Current

ITV Studios	ITV Studios Australia 12 Yard Big Talk Productions Cattleya Hartswood Films Mammoth Screen Multistory Media Oxford Scientific Films Potato So Television Twofour World Productions
Other	CITV LittleBe ITV Daytime ITV Food ITV News ITN ITV Weather ITV Sport ITVX itv.com BritBox STV Player STV Studios

Former

ITV
(network)
franchises
and
regions

National
franchises

Breakfast	TV-am (1983–1992) GMTV (1993–2010) ITV Breakfast (2010–present)
Teletext	ORACLE (1974–1992) Teletext Ltd. (1993–2010)

Current
regional
franchises

ITV plc	Anglia Border Central Channel TV Cymru Wales Granada London Meridian Tyne Tees UTV West Country Yorkshire
STV Group	STV Central STV North

Former
regional
franchises

"Big 4 / 5"	ABC ATV Central Granada LWT Rediffusion Thames Yorkshire
Other	Carlton HTV ITSWW ITV Westcountry Southern TSW TVS TWW Westward WWN/Teledu Cymru

Unsuccessful
franchise bids

Non-franchise
regions

Timelines

Franchises and regions	ABC Anglia ATV Border Carlton Central Channel Grampian Granada HTV West ITV in Wales LWT Meridian Scottish Southern Thames & Associated-Rediffusion TSW & Westward TV-am TVS Tyne Tees UTV Westcountry Yorkshire
Other	ITV (network) ITV children's TV ITV Digital Channels ITV News ITN Regional news ITV Sport

Regulators

ITA (1954–72)
IBA (1972–90)
ITC (1991–2003)
Ofcom (2003–present)

Other

Category

Categories: