The BBC's reputation last night suffered another devastating blow when it lost the rights to screen Premiership football highlights to ITV in a multi-million pound auction.
The loss means that Match of the Day, a Saturday night fixture for 36 years, will disappear from TV screens.
The result was deeply humiliating for the BBC director general, Greg Dyke, who had promised to restore the corporation's fortunes when he took over this year - and highlighted sport as a key area for improvement.
The BBC reacted angrily to the decision and accused Premier League officials of being driven by money rather than football.
"We're always uncomfortable with the auction process," a spokesman said. "It didn't give the BBC any credit for helping to build the audience for the Premier League since its inception. It seems only money talks these days."
But British culture secretary Chris Smith welcomed the deal, saying it would maintain access to football for a mass audience via terrestrial television. "The competition over rights has produced a very lucrative deal for the Premier League clubs," he said in a statement.
ITV compounded the corporation's woes by announcing that Des Lynam, who moved to the network from the BBC last year, would present its show. ITV bid £183 million for a three-year package beginning in August 2001, against the corporation's total of £123 million.
Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB retained the main Premier League rights, which will allow them to show 66 live games a year for a total of £1.11 billion in an auction decided with sealed bids yesterday afternoon.
A second package of 40 games, which will be shown on a pay-per-view basis, was won by Britain's biggest cable company, ntl, for £328 million, bringing the windfall for the league clubs to £1.64 billion over three years.
Barry Davies, the veteran football commentator, was one of many lamenting the end of what has become a Saturday night institution. "It's a surprise. This is very difficult; it's the end of an era. Match of the Day has been my life, but Motty (John Motson) is going to be totally gutted by this."
The BBC has successively lost the rights to screen Formula One motor racing, England's home international rugby games, Test cricket and the FA Cup final.
Last month, while ITV screened the FA Cup final and Channel 4 showed the first Test, BBC1 cancelled Grandstand because it had no live sport - and screened the musical My Fair Lady instead.
ITV now have the rights to two weekly highlights shows, the main Saturday night slot plus a second on Sundays and some week nights. David Liddiment, ITV's director of programmes, described it as "a huge coup".
Lynam, who appeared to have been played as a trump card by ITV, said he was "personally thrilled" to be reunited with the Premier League. "I am delighted for my ITV colleagues who have put a vast amount of effort into clinching this contract," he said.
The retention of the main package of live rights was seen as critical for BSkyB, which has built its business on the back of the Premier League. Murdoch has described sport as "the battering ram" with which to open new markets. The Premier League has yet to issue radio rights and rights for new technologies such as the internet and mobile phones.
