BBC blows final whistle on Football Focus as show scrapped after 52 years

Growth of digital platforms reflected in audience fall

Promise of ‘exciting new project’ with partner YouTube

The BBC will take Football Focus off air this summer, bringing to an end a 52-year stint as the unofficial kick-off to the sporting weekend.

The national broadcaster said it had given “extensive consideration” to the decision to scrap the Saturday lunchtime programme, but the news will hardly come as a surprise as the changing nature of fans’ media consumption has left the venerable televison show quietly forgotten in the age of clips and livestreams.