The BBC has lost the TV and radio rights to show the Boat Race this Spring, with Channel 4 and Times Radio taking over after an apparent lack of interest from the broadcaster
The Boat Race has traditionally been covered by the BBC(Image: HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
The BBC won’t air the Boat Race on TV or radio for the first time in nearly a century this year after losing the rights. Channel 4 acquired the TV rights for the iconic event in a five-year deal six months ago, and now Times Radio has picked up the radio rights until 2028.
The BBC has been the home of the rowing race between Oxford University and Cambridge University on the Thames since the mid-1920s, when it first broadcast it on the radio, while it was first televised in 1938. But this year’s race, which takes place on April 4, will only be available elsewhere.
There have previously been gaps in the BBC’s dominance of the event, with ITV showing the race between 2005 and 2009, while LBC had radio rights from 2005 to 2010. However, this is the first time the broadcaster won’t air the Boat Race, which attracted 2.6 million viewers last year, in any format.
It comes after The Telegraph reported that the BBC’s director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski ‘showed very little enthusiasm’ for picking up the rights because he considered the race ‘elitist’. Times Radio has picked up the rights for free, on the agreement that they promote it across News UK’s network.
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The BBC have seen a decline in viewing figures for the Boat Race in recent years, while production costs have increased.
Kay-Jelski took over BBC Sport in 2024 and has overseen a change in the corporation’s approach, with the Commonwealth Games also lost alongside the Boat Race. There are reportedly doubts internally over the BBC continuing to show Wimbledon and the Six Nations, with Kay-Jelski insistent that the BBC doesn’t necessarily need live sport.
“You can still be relevant, you can still matter if you don’t show the sport. No one out there can show it all. So, you just have to make sure you’re in the conversation of the things that matter,” he said at the Financial Times’s Business of Football Summit last month.
“For example, we have audio rights to Formula 1 but not video rights, but we still have reporting and live pages and digital video that draw in millions and millions and millions of people. We’re all living in this very different media landscape now where most of us are seeing things first on our phone anyway, and we’re all swiping on the same tiny little screen.
“The BBC might have thought, traditionally, it was up against ITV, or Sky, or various other broadcasters. Well, guess what? We’re not. We’re in a race to not be swiped, up against people selling you holidays, or clothes companies, or two-for-one chicken breasts on sale from the supermarket, or football teams, or athletes.”
Chair of The Boat Race Company, Siobhan Cassidy said of the deal: “We’re delighted to announce Times Radio as our new radio partner on a multi-year deal commencing with this year’s Boat Race on Saturday 4 April.
“The Boat Race prides itself on heritage, tradition, precision and quality and these are values shared by the Times Radio team and their listeners, to whom we are incredibly excited to deliver live coverage and supporting content of this year’s and future events.”
