Jake Humphrey leaves the BBC

Fairly significant news so I thought it deserved a thread of its own so that its not missed.

Jake Humphrey will leave the BBC to present BT's live Premier League Football coverage from the start of the 2013-2014 football season.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19635534

He will continue to present BBC F1 until the end of this season, but its unclear exactly when he will leave the Beeb.

Big signing for BT. Jake has become one of the BBC's senior sports presenters in recent years. He's had some big gigs at the Olympics and at SPOTY, as well as the Formula One.

Two big defections for BBC Sport in the space of a month - along with Clare Balding.

I really can't think of anyone in-house who could viably take on the F1 job, except perhaps Lee McKenzie.

EDIT: bit more info at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/sep/18/jake-humphrey-bbc-bt-vision?newsfeed=true - he will join BT in January 2013, and - like Clare Balding - it's a non-exclusive contract allowing him to work for other broadcasters, although it would be impossible for him to continue with F1.

I still don't think Clare has left BBC Sport altogether. Nowhere did it say that and she looked, for a better word, 'scundered' when they mentioned her role on Channel 4 Racing at the Paralympics.

If they make Lee McKenzie presenter, then I'd take far more interest in F1

No, she hasn't - sorry if I didn't make that clear. They've both joined other broadcasters on non-exclusive contracts. So they are both free to continue to work for the BBC.

But, with every F1 race from March-May and August-November presumably clashing with a live BT match, it would be difficult to see how Humphrey could continue to present F1 (his principal gig) on the BBC.

Similarly, its hard to see how Clare Balding could do, for example, a Challenge Cup match while there is a major race meeting on Channel 4.

Their respective contracts will inevitably mean less appearances on the BBC.

I think this may have been a good time for Jake to leave, and I expect many presenters have questioned their position since London 2012 was over.

The BBC have been building for it for so long, and now is the time to find new horizons. Presenting a home Olympics for Clare and Jake will have been the highlights of their careers - possibly difficult to top.

On another note, I always think that Adrian Chiles probably jumped too soon. He would have been in contention for Gary Lineker's evening slot on BBC One during the games. I expect he's disappointed to have not been a part of it.

Rumours are that Gabby Logan is going to BT to present the Rugby.

EDIT: According to Charles Sale they want her anyway, and he reported Jake to BT last week. Jake and Gabby have the same agent too.

As rumours suggest a while Bernie would be quite happy for F1 to go completely to Sky, I suspect Jake wondered about his long term future at the BBC. In terms of football he'd always be behind Lineker for as long as Lineker wants to be there.

Well that could leave the door open for Ray Stubbs to come back into the BBC Sport fold. Although I suspect Mark Chapman would get the final score role, or they could finally merge the Football Focus and Final Score roles and Dan Walker presents. I suspect Clare Balding could take over Gabby Logan's Rugby Union duties, if those six nations weekends don't clash with many big race meeting although I suspect sometimes they clash with grand national.

Always a risk though moving from the relative safety net of BBC Sport to a fledgling new subscription offering, with what is likely to be a relatively tiny audience. Premier League rights are fluid, so there is no guarantee that BT will maintain their share of the spoils post 2016. Ray Stubbs is testimony to that.

It's a bold move, given that he enjoyed not only a role in F1 but other BBC events coverage, and BT won't have any involvement in European Championships, World Cups, future Commonwealth / Olympics Games, Wimbledon, Six Nations etc.

There can't be many organisations with bigger pockets than BT for spending on this kind of thing. I think BT will only lose rights if they don't want them anymore because it hasn't worked out, which is quite possible at this stage.

Wouldn't bet on the one in bold. It's shared between pay and free to air broadcasters in places like France and I wouldn't be surprised to see UEFA sell to BT/ITV or Sky/ITV in the future leaving the BBC out in the cold.

I also expect live F1 to be pay TV exclusive at the end of this contract.

Not to surprising to see the exodus begin now the Olympics are done and dusted, though replacing Jake Humphrey is arguably tougher for the BBC than replacing Gary Lineker would be.

Frankly though the downsizing of BBC Sport personnel (regardless of whether they're on the BBC books or freelance - they're all BBC Sport faces) kind of needs to happen with a return to fewer presenters with more varied roles - but the trouble for the BBC is with Claire, Jake and potentially Gabby too they're losing three of their best multi-sport anchors.