I yield to no one in my love of the old days — warm beer , cricket on the village green , bobbies on bicycles two by two , all that — but it 's rare a chance arises to compare the rose-tinted past with the brave new world , as it did on Saturday evening when Sky 's high-octane Premier League coverage went head-to-head with Arsenal v Reading in the FA Cup semi-final on the BBC . As we know , the Premier League has the money and prestige , but what the FA Cup has is history , and boy does the BBC love a bit of history ? Lest you were in any doubt , its coverage of the semi-final kicked off with footage of the late Sir Laurence Olivier doing the St Crispin 's Day speech from the film of Henry V ( 'We happy few , We band of brothers , ' and so on ) . Gary Lineker , Alan Shearer , Jason Roberts and Ian Wright fronted the BBC 's coverage at Wembley . BBC presenter Lineker prepares to present the Match of the Day 50th anniversary special broadcast . Reading defender Nathaniel Chaloboah ( left ) chases Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey ( right ) on Saturday . Gunners forward Alexis Sanchez celebrates after scoring his side 's winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final . Stand-in Match of the Day presenter Gabby Logan ( left ) with pundits Phil Neville and Robbie Savage ( right ) The excuse , I guess , was that Reading 's nickname is the Royals , but as the second-tier team are also known as the Biscuitmen . The BBC even gave us a moment of history at half-time with a breakdown , something that used to be a regular feature of TV outside broadcasts , when a feature on Crystal Palace 's shock semi-final victory over Liverpool 25 years ago came to a shuddering halt halfway through . In such instances , the BBC is lucky to retain the services of Gary Lineker , the best presenter of live football on TV . Sky have never really replaced the disgraced Richard Keys , who had the benefit of longevity in the post . The BBC needs to fight hard to avoid Lineker falling into the hands of rivals . Not that Sky 's presenters are less than competent — David Jones did the job — but it 's never a good sign when you have to go to Google to check which one it is . The price of live Premier League football is now way beyond the reach of the BBC , which may be the clincher in Lineker 's future . While the BBC 's match had the lion 's share of the goalmouth action , it was difficult to resist turning over to Sky on occasion . Having invested its billions in the Premier League , Sky does n't skimp on the peripheries . The sound always seems a little crisper , and in punditry , where Sky offers us the Rolls Royce of analysts , Gary Neville , the BBC counters with the mid-range Danny Murphy . In the commentary box , Sky fields Martin Tyler for its big games in the knowledge he 'll rarely make a bad call , while the BBC never seems sure who its best commentator is . The man on the job on Saturday , Steve Wilson , is unfussy and made the most of what was the bigger story . The outcome on Sky was depressingly predictable . The BBC may miss out on the Premier League 's pricey weekly thrills , but took the biscuit on Saturday . The BBC 's Dan Walker talks pitchside with Sportsmail 's Martin Keown at Wembley . Sky Sports pundits Graeme Souness ( left ) and Thierry Henry ( right ) discuss their match analysis .
The weekend saw BBC 's the Rolls Royce coverage compete with Sky 's Premier League . It was a refreshing throwback to see the BBC 's use of archive footage . Gary Lineker remains one of the BBC 's prized assets and they must keep him .