So where can find your Premiership television coverage this season? John Goodbody offers a guide

BBC1

What you can see: Match of The Day (MoTD) will show highlights of the Premiership for the last time this season, now fixed at 10.30pm and usually repeated at 7.30am on Sundays. Football Focus continues on Saturday at 12.20pm. The BBC’s meagre allowance of live games will include Liverpool’s home matches in the Uefa Cup, while BBC2 will screen the Uefa Super Cup final on August 25 when Real Madrid meet Galatasary.

Personalities: Gary Lineker has grown into the job as presenter of MOTD after the defection of Desmond Lynam to ITV. Judging by head-to-head ratings, the loss of Lynam, the housewife’s favourite, has made less difference than expected. Alan Hansen remains the most accomplished panel member with his trenchant and informed criticisms. The commentators are the usual favourites.

Innovations: The BBC is relying on its trusted formula.

Good value? When it gets the chance, the BBC often leads the way with professional commentary, production and camerawork. A pity it doesn’t have more opportunities.

ITV

What you can see: The European Champions’ League should fill up your Wednesday evenings nicely. There will be 16 live games, kicking-off at 7.45pm, followed by a later highlights programme of other matches in the tournament in 15 weeks of the year. On Tuesday nights there’s a highlights programme of the competition. In the FA Cup - remember that venerated tournament that used to excite us so much? - ITV will screen one live tie each round from the third, a total of five Sunday games plus next May’s final.

In the Worthington Cup ITV regions will have highlights from the third round onwards. Both legs of the semi-final will be screened live and there will be highlights of the final at its new venue. There will be 35 weeks of On the Ball, beginning most weeks at 1.10pm on Saturdays.

Personalities: Laid-back Lynam will be introducing most of the live games. The experience of Bob Wilson and fresh enterprise of Gabby Yorath will be used to front the highlights programmes. Yorath and Barry Venison will host On The Ball. It helps to have coached England if you want to get a place on the ITV comment panel. Bobby Robson, Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle have already been selected. Clive Tyldesley and Ron Atkinson continue as main commentators.

Innovations: Like the BBC, ITV does not believe in changing what it naturally considers to be a winning team.

Good value? The longer ITV covers football continuously, the more it will be recognised as the channel to switch on when the World Cup or European championship come round.

Sky Sports

What you can see: Sixty Premiership games during the season, largely on Sunday afternoons, kick-off usually at 4pm, or on Monday at 8pm. Soccer Saturday introduced by Jeff Stelling runs from midday to 6pm, with a live-wire panel including George Best, Rodney Marsh and Frank McLintock. Sky Sports will also have extensive coverage of both the FA and Worthington Cups and will screen live all of Chelsea’s home Uefa Cup games.

Innovation: If you have the interactive facility, you can click on the corner of your remote and listen to the alternative commentary by two .other supporters on “FanZone” and comfort yourself by thinking how much better you could do the job.

Personalities: Martin Tyler and Alan Parry are the experienced commentators plus the colourful perennial, Andy Gray. Clare Tomlinson, the first woman to present an important live football match on British television when she introduced Manchester United’s game against Palmeiras last November, will be the new touchline reporter for the Premiership.

Good value? Now indispensable if you are a football fan, but also a source of acute annoyance for any people in the household not obsessed with the national game.

ONdigital

What you can see: You can get Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 and British Eurosport through subscription. In addition, you will get ONsport 1 and 2. This will give you a bumper package of European football. On Tuesdays, ONsport 1 and 2 will show live two full matches in the European Champions League, (7.45pm). On Wednesdays ITV will have the first choice of the match but ONdigital will carry the second game. During the rest of the week there will be filmed matches in full of all the remaining fixtures in the competition.

Personalities: Jim Rosenthal will be anchoring the main match, with Clive Tyldesley and Peter Drury providing most of the commentaries.

Good value? A coming force in the market-place and invaluable if you are infatuated with European football.

How to avoid those video disasters

Bill Edgar offers tips to those who want to watch a crucial match on video and not know the score - and yet who always find a way to mess it up

1) Avoid news bulletins, although BBC2’s Newsnight is fine as it is too highbrow to give football results.

2) Beware of trains and buses - you might see the result on the back page of a newspaper read by a passenger opposite.

3) When recording your game, allow more time at the end in case the kick-off is delayed.

4) Don’t answer the telephone - even though you tell the other person immediately not to reveal the score, you start to suspect that they only rang because they wanted to discuss the game, therefore suggesting it was a dramatic game, or that the team they support (if that team was playing) won.

5) When watching a recording, ensure the video channel is different from the one on which you recorded the game in order to avoid stumbling upon a rerun of the match should you stop the video at any time. The rerun may be further through the game.

6) Fast forward through the start of a programme showing a rerun of a match - a grin and a “don’t miss this one” from the presenter spoils it because the enjoyment of gradually realising you are witnessing a great game will be lost.

7) If you are able to record two matches that have been played simultaneously, watch your first one with the sound down, because the commentator might give score updates from the other game.