Peterborough United end BBC Radio Cambridgeshire contract to provide match commentary to launch in-house service

It is understood that the station, which has provided match commentary for Posh matches over many decades, still had one year left on its already agreed deal.

In recent years, the station’s commentary has been used for iFollow broadcasts as well as for fans listening on the radio.

Last season’s team saw the experienced broadcasters Benoit Stevenson, Peter Swann, Nathan Albon, Sam Edwards, Chris Dowsett and Matt Ramsay,- along with co-commentators such as Nilesh Patel and ex-Posh players Franny Green and Gaby Zakuani - bring fans live commentary of all of Posh’s matches in all competitions as they made it all the way to the play-off semi finals.

In its place, Nilesh Patel and Chris Dowsett will be bringing fans live commentaries on the Posh+ subscription service. The pair will be joined by booth by players and pundits during the season.

Supporters can tune in on match day with audio passes on sale at £5 per game, whilst regular listeners can make regular savings by taking out a monthly subscription.

For £6.50 per month, fans can access live audio commentary for each match, (six in the month of August, a saving of

£23.50) as well as exclusive daily updates and behind the scenes video content.

The pair will be on the mic together for Posh’s final pre-season game against Birmingham on July 29.

“I am really excited about the opportunity. Commentating is something I have always wanted to do since I was a kid and to do it for the club I have supported my whole life is absolutely brilliant. I have had a taste of it in the last few years and I can’t wait for the season to start and hopefully commentate on a strong season for the club,” Chris said.

Nilesh added: “Chris and I have worked together before on a few commentaries, so it is fantastic that we can work together again. I have been a fan of this club for 30-odd years and hopefully I can convey some of the emotion we will see on the pitch during the season for the fans at home, or wherever they are tuning in to Posh+ from.”

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is still planning to cover matches- via its agreement with the EFL- and will be permitted to broadcast updates but will not be providing full commentary. It is believed that Posh will be moving commentary services in-house.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The club has chosen to end their agreement with us for the 23/24 season. Despite this change, we remain fully committed to covering the Posh both home and away throughout the upcoming campaign.”

Head of Media and Content at Posh, Phil Adlam said: “We are delighted that Chris and Nilesh have agreed to become our commentators for the season. They have experience, they are dedicated, knowledgeable and we firmly believe that it is important for consistency that we have regular commentators behind the mic. We have taken a lot of feedback from supporters over the last few seasons and understand why there is a need for us to bring this in-house.

“We will be putting together a short pre-match show that will be available for subscribers to watch on Posh+ and listen to which will provide the perfect build-up to all of the action. We know that there will be fans who are unable to attend matches whether that is in PE2 or on the road, we also know that listener habits are changing – we believe that we are going to be providing the perfect option for those supporters.”