Latest news with #Goalhanger
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Gary Lineker strikes deal with DAZN after BBC exit
Gary Lineker has struck a deal that will see him present football highlights days after losing his job at the BBC for sharing an 'anti-Semitic' rat emoji. Lineker's lucrative podcast, The Rest is Football, has announced it will show match footage from this summer's inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in a tie-up with global broadcast rights holders DAZN. The deal was confirmed barely a week after Lineker left the BBC a year early following what was his final Match of the Day. The 64-year-old, who 'apologised reservedly' last month for sharing a post on Instagram he said he had not known had contained 'offensive references', had previously been due to continue presenting the corporation's live coverage of the FA Cup and next summer's World Cup. Tony Pastor, the co-founder of Lineker's Goalhanger podcast empire, said: 'The Rest Is Football isn't just being listened to – it's being watched, shared, and talked about across Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, and Instagram. Partnering with DAZN to bring official match clips into the mix is the natural next step – adding energy, context, and taking the conversation to the next level. With over six million episode views and listens each month, and huge engagement across social, it's already the UK's most popular sports podcast. As the way fans experience football evolves, The Rest Is Football is right at the heart of it.' Pete Oliver, CEO of Growth Markets at DAZN, added: 'The Rest Is Football is essential viewing and listening for fans who want insight, entertainment, and personality – and this partnership is a brilliant way to bring the Fifa Club World Cup even closer to that audience. It's about connecting global football with the voices fans trust and love, and showing the tournament in a fresh, exciting, and authentically British way. As the global broadcast partner of the Fifa Club World Cup and the only place where fans in the UK can watch every game for free, there was no better partner than Goalhanger.' As revealed by Telegraph Sport in December, DAZN bought the global rights to the new 32-team Club World Cup for $1 billion (£787 million), rescuing the tournament from a potential television blackout. It subsequently announced an equivalent investment in the company by Saudi Arabia's Surj Sports. DAZN will stream all 63 Club World Cup matches and has also sublicensed 23 of them – 15 group games, four last-16 ties, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final – to Channel 5 in the UK.
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
Gary Lineker's football podcast strikes deal with DAZN after BBC split
Gary Lineker has made his first significant move in broadcasting since leaving the BBC, with his podcast, The Rest is Football, striking a deal with DAZN for coverage of the Club World Cup. The split between Lineker and the BBC last month, sparked by the former Match of the Day presenter sharing a social media post about Zionism that included the image of a rat, extended to the podcast no longer appearing on the broadcaster's audio streaming service BBC Sounds. But Lineker and his colleagues at Goalhanger have wasted no time in forging a new partnership with the streaming platform DAZN, which has the exclusive broadcasting rights to Fifa's new-look club tournament in the United States this summer. A joint statement issued on Tuesday said that The Rest is Football will feature 'licensed match footage within the show', with Lineker and his co-presenters, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, also providing tournament previews and other bespoke content. Tony Pastor, the co-founder of Goalhanger, said: 'Partnering with DAZN to bring official match clips into the mix is the natural next step — adding energy, context, and taking the conversation to the next level.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Gary Lineker's exit shakes up BBC rich list: The Beeb's new top earners revealed as £1.4m-a-year Match of the Day host prepares for final ever show tonight after anti-Semitism row
Gary Lineker 's sudden BBC departure will shake up the corporation's rich list - and save the licence-fee payer approaching £1million in 2026, MailOnline can reveal today. The 64-year-old footballer turned broadcaster hosts his final Match of the Day tonight after being axed for sharing an anti-Semitic Instagram post. Lineker had been expected to front coverage of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup but will now step down from the BBC on Sunday. He will leave without a pay-off from his £1.4million-a-year salary, which made him the corporation's top earner. One BBC insider told MailOnline that they believe moving on Lineker early will save the corporation between £800,000 and £900,000 over the next year. 'With Huw gone and Gary on his way the rich list next year is going to look different - and the overall bill for our stars will be cheaper', the added. Lineker is going to concentrate on his podcast business Goalhanger - makers of The Rest is History, The Rest is Politics and his Rest is Football show with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards. And he won't go hungry without his BBC salary because his podcast empire, founded in 2019, recorded a staggering £1.4million profit last year, accounts published in February revealed. Assets jumped over the last 12 months with accounts filed at Companies House showing its retained earnings rose from £590,000 in 2023 to £2.03million last year, a £1.4m rise. Cash in the bank also rose from £560,000 to £2.7million. Lineker is one of three big names at the top of the BBC's rich list last year to exit. Zoe Ball - who was second on the most recent list with a pay packet of £954,999 - stepped down as host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show last year. And BBC bosses will save hundreds of thousands of pounds by swapping her for incoming replacement Scott Mills who will be paid significantly less. While Ball, 53, will stay at the channel, her decision to leave it's most prominent presenting slot to 'spend more time with her family' was bound to have consequences for her remuneration. And Huw Edwards, who will not be returning to our TV screens after being convicted for possessing indecent images of children. These moves suggest Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James could be set to become the BBC's highest paid star on £419,999 - although Ball's replacement Scott Mills is likely to enjoy a substantial bump to his current salary of £319,999. James moved up the list earlier to become the fourth highest paid star at the BBC, up from seventh in 2023, with his pay jumping from up to £399,999. The 38-year-old came to prominence after taking over the Radio 1 drivetime slot from Mills in 2012. He went on to host Radio 1 Breakfast after switching shows with Nick Grimshaw in 2018. He has also hosted a number of TV shows for the corporation including Sun, Sex and Holiday Madness and Unzipped, both on BBC Three. James is followed on the BBC's talent pay figures for 2024 by Question Time and BBC News presenter Fiona Bruce and Radio 5 Live presenter Stephen Nolan who are in joint fifth position and earn up to £409,999 apiece. Desert Island Discs and 6 Music host Lauren Laverne, who was paid up to £399,999, is in sixth and is one of four women in the top ten. Alan Shearer, without a major international football tournament on in 2023, saw his pay drop from up to £449,999 to as much as £384,999, putting him seventh on the list. In joint ninth, with BBC Radio 4's Today programme presenter Nick Robinson, was BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty, whose pay went up slightly to £349,999. The salary figures also show that most of the presenters listed had posted pay rises between 2023 and 2024, with BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti getting a huge increase in the region of £55,000 to up to £274,999. Ball's pay deal had been the focus of anger from licence fee payers - in 2020, it was revealed that she was earning £1.36million, and the resulting outcry led her to take a voluntary £380,000 pay cut. The BBC said at the time that she felt it was inappropriate to earn so much in the middle of the pandemic. Sources say that BBC bosses have recently become determined that the days of high six- and even seven-figure presenter salaries at the BBC should come to an end. So when £950,000-a-year Zoe - currently their best paid radio star - floated that she was thinking of moving on, they made minimal efforts to persuade her to stay. That position in the pay scale was shared by the BBC's former political editor Nick Robinson who is now one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti was given an increase in the region of £55,000 to up to £274,999, according to the latest annual figures Currently Scott Mills, 52, earns a comparably modest £315,000 each year. A BBC source told MailOnline: 'Scott will get a bump in his salary for taking on the breakfast gig, that's the flagship role and it's very demanding so he deserves it – but it won't take him anywhere close to the money Zoe has been getting. 'The truth is, even though she is very well liked by the management and a real BBC stalwart, any opportunity to save some serious money has to be snatched at these days. This could save something close to half a million quid every year. 'Despite having previously taken a pay cut Zoe's money had come under renewed scrutiny lately because it's right up towards the top of the published salaries list – next to the likes of Gary Lineker who is leaving too. 'She would have been the corporation's biggest salary if she had outstayed him. 'When Scott starts his money will be hundreds of thousands of pounds less per year than Zoe's was, so they're pretty pleased that next time they have to report their presenter pay it will look a lot less excessive.'
Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Gary Lineker's The Rest is Football podcast dropped by BBC
The BBC has terminated an agreement to host Gary Lineker's The Rest is Football podcast after the antisemitism row that led to the presenter's exit. This week's edition of the podcast, which features Lineker and his fellow Match of the Day pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, will be the last to appear on the broadcaster's audio streaming platform BBC Sounds. The BBC has opted to cut short a 12-month licensing deal it struck in November with Goalhanger, the podcasting production company, co-founded by Lineker, that is behind the show. At the time, it said the podcast episodes would remain available on its audio platform for three years. The Rest is Football's sister show The Rest is History, presented by Tom Holland
North Wales Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
Gary Lineker's football podcast to leave BBC Sounds after social media row
It comes after the corporation announced the player-turned-pundit's early departure from the broadcaster following a social media row after the 64-year-old shared a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult. After this weekend's Match Of The Day, Lineker, who has issued an unreserved apology, will leave his presenting role at the BBC and will no longer front the corporation's coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season. His podcast, The Rest Is Football, which is produced by his company Goalhanger Podcasts, will have its last episode on BBC Sounds this week, but The Rest Is History will continue on BBC Sounds, PA understands. The podcast, part of Goalhanger's The Rest Is… franchise, is co-hosted by Match Of The Day pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, as well as Lineker, and will remain available on other audio platforms. In November 2024, BBC Sounds announced a one-year licensing deal for The Rest Is Football and The Rest Is History, with an opportunity to extend. At the time, it said the podcast episodes would remain available on the audio platform for three years. Lineker, the BBC's highest-paid presenter, has headed up Match Of The Day since 1999 and announced last year that he would be leaving the programme at the end of the season, but would still host World Cup and FA Cup coverage. However, in an apology video, he said Sunday will be his last show, adding it is 'best for all concerned that I step down from BBC presenting duties altogether and not do next season's FA Cup or World Cup'. A post shared by Gary Lineker (@garylineker) The presenter said he had not seen the emoji of the rat, an animal identified with antisemitic tropes, in the post he shared and added that he stands 'against all forms of racism', including antisemitism, 'which I absolutely abhor'. On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police said the force will assess whether an investigation is needed following complaints about the post. In the wake of Lineker's departure, the vice president of the Board Of Deputies Of British Jews, Andrew Gilbert, called on the BBC to implement antisemitism training for all its staff. Lineker was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then-government's new asylum policy. He was also among 500 high-profile figures who signed an open letter in February urging the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, on BBC iPlayer.
