BT Sign Jake Humphrey to front Premier League Football from BBC

Jake Humphrey is leaving the BBC at the end of 2012 to move to BT’s new sports channel where he will anchor their Premier League coverage.

“We are absolutely delighted that Jake has chosen to join our new sports channel to anchor our Premier League programming… He is a tremendously experienced and popular sports broadcaster and a fresh, young and innovative talent. He impressed us with his willingness to get deeply involved in the development of our live football programming and we took into account his track record of excellent presenting across many sports. He fits our plans for the new channel perfectly and we are very excited to be working with him.” – Marc Watson, chief executive of BT Vision

The new channel which won 38 games from the Premier League (including first picks) will launch in mid 2013. They’ve also snapped up English Aviva Rugby rights and in recent days it has been announced that BT have snapped up European football league rights such as Serie A and Ligue 1 from ESPN for next season, with rumours ESPN may pull out of the UK market.

Jake, 33, has been with the Beeb for ten years, after starting off at CBBC. He moved into the sports department in mid 2000s. His credits include live football presenting and football focus, Olympics, Face of Formula 1 on the BBC since 2009 plus he has presented the Sports Personality of the Year.

Many tipped Jake, who is rumoured to have been on £250,000 a year at the BBC, to be the new face of BBC Sport in years to come and there has been rumours of Gary Lineker moving to BT also.

Jake tweeted today: “Thanks SO much for your kind, supportive and understanding tweets. Right, must focus, time to pack for Singapore…”

“I am incredibly excited to be joining the team at BT not just because I get to fulfil a lifelong dream of presenting the Barclays Premier League but because of the fresh perspective that BT will bring to both sport and broadcasting in this country. To be a part of this young, vibrant team who are as passionate about sport, as I am, is a privilege. I’ve grown up at the BBC, and whilst I hope to work with them in the future, I’d also like to place on record my thanks to them. I am incredibly grateful to all colleagues, and of course the viewers, for their incredible support from CBBC all the way to Formula 1. My focus from the start of 2013 is on making BT’s coverage of football the best this country has ever seen.” – Jake Humpfrey