BBC 'advertising plan' rejected by UEFA

The BBC's controversial bid to show live Champions League football has failed.
UEFA were not expected to reach a decision until next month at least, but the body have announced their decision to grant BSkyB and ITV television rights to show matches for the next three seasons.
The decision means that ITV, the current UK rights holder, will show two matches of their choice live each Tuesday, while BSkyB will have the opportunity to broadcast the remaining matches exclusively on the following Wednesday.
The BBC bid was hamstrung from the outset by the huge advertising dependency of the Champions League. The BBC charter forbids advertising, but the corporation compiled a proposal that involved scrolling the names of sponsors across the bottom of the screen before and after matches, as well as at half-time.
ITV objected strongly to the move, which it saw as a clear breach of the charter, but the Government refused to intervene.
UEFA described the BBC bid as "competitive", but decided to opt for ITV and BSkyB "based on an assessment of the overall revenues to European football, the commercial opportunities offered and the promotion of the competition available through a combination of free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasting".
Although the financial terms of the agreement have not been revealed, it is understood that to offset the reduced advertising potential the BBC bid was higher than either BSkyBs or ITVs – but apparently not high enough for one of sport's most heavily commercial competitions.
The success will be a relief to executives at ITV, which has received a number of body blows in recent weeks, not least Dawn Airey's last-minute decision to move to BSkyB. But up against a more populist BBC strategy, ITV will be pleased to have denied the BBC a ratings banker - and a return to big-time sport.
(GB)