ITV Sport forces William Hill change over Robbie Savage FA Cup commercials

Online betting site William Hill have had to change their advertising ahead of the weekend’s FA Cup third round action. Why? All because of Robbie Savage. The former Wales international is a pundit for the BBC and is also one of the main ambassadors for William Hill. Britain’s biggest bookmaker decided to use savage in their advertising campaign to be shown in the prime slots of the weekend’s action on ITV.

Savage was due to appear in a Where’s Wally? parody of clips, with the former Leicester and Blackburn striker appearing on computer screens or as a cardboard cut out. But ITV weren’t happy about the BBC pundit getting so much attention in the William Hill adverts. ITV Sport’s weren’t convinced about William Hill’s usage of Savage, which in a roundabout kind of way promotes Savage’s image for their rivals the BBC, where his views on soccer are often pretty polarising.

So William Hill have changed the commercials which will be shown in the bumper slots surrounding ITV’s televised FA Cup matches. An ITV insider said: ‘We work closely with our sponsorship partners to ensure that all material meets the approval of both parties before  broadcast.’ William Hill said: ‘We’re in discussion with ITV regarding the editorial content of our new sponsorship. This is a normal process within the terms of our deal.’