Lineker goes: Does TV still need Match Of The Day? | Ents & Arts News

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After 25 years, Gary Lineker is leaving the BBC’s Match Of The Day.

He’ll stay on for the corporation’s coverage of the FA Cup and the next World Cup – but he’ll get his Saturday nights back from the end of this season.

The change will likely help the BBC’s presenter wage bill and might save some run-ins about Lineker’s use of social media – but what about the programme he leaves behind?

Sixty years after MOTD’s launch, do TV viewers really still “look away now” to avoid the scores before 10.30pm on a Saturday? In the era of YouTube fan channels, TikTok accounts and wall-to-wall live coverage, is a set-piece highlights programme showing its age?

Niall Paterson looks over the options for one of the BBC’s biggest brands – how can it change for an audience falling out of love with linear TV without alienating other viewers?

He’s joined by Rob Harris, our sports correspondent, and Stuart Rowson, a former BBC Sport executive who now works with brands to attract younger audiences.