It makes sense – they’re always thrashed by the Beeb when they go head to head, so why bother? And at the current ITV, the key word is “exclusivity” – that’s why their current football rights are heavily weighted towards live action rather than highlights, because it demands that people come to the commercial channel. Far better for ITV to concentrate on their exclusive games earlier in the tournament.

In fact it’s going to be a very low-key tournament on ITV full stop, with all the matches being presented from London, late night highlights on ITV4 alone and no associated programming other than the UEFA-produced preview shows. That said, this might make it a bit more palatable, after they seemed to try and turn Euro 2000 into a triangular tournament between England, France and Holland, and Euro 2004 into England vs France and thirty other matches in support. And what about the 2006 World Cup, with its ludicrously extended series about 1966, which was of course hugely relevant before Ecuador vs Costa Rica?

Let’s hope they make the effort, though, and don’t just present the tournament as if it’s a big-standard Champions League group game, as has often been the case. It’s good to see Matt Smith get some live matches as I think he’s a good host, but it’s less good to see Andy Townsend billed as a pundit on every game. The Tactics Truck may be long gone, but the man remains utterly insufferable, clearly desperate to be promoted to the anchor’s chair. All the other pundits will probably be hopeless as they’re all current players (Gary Neville, Deitmar Hamman) or managers (Harry Redknapp, David Moyes) who won’t slag anyone off because they’re all their team-mates or players.

In the commentary box, meanwhile, ITV are continuing to bafflingly promote the pompous Peter Drury and the perennially befuddled David Pleat above the far superior Jon Champion and, especially, Jim Beglin. Which is a shame.

The Beeb are making much more of an effort (we’ll ignore them shoving Switzerland vs Turkey to BBC2 for the final ofThe Apprentice). As in previous tournaments they’re presenting everything from a swish studio overlooking all the sights of the capital, in this case Vienna, and I really like their title sequence.

The great news is that, despite not featuring in the press release, the great Martin O’Neill will be one of the pundits, and that’s great because he mixes incisive analysis with demented asides. Who can forget his appearance alongside Leonardo in the last World Cup, where the Brazilian’s achievements were heralded, before Martin announced, “He’s not the sort of boy you’d want to go to a disco with”. Also there is the equally bonkers Gordon Strachan, and let’s hope they get paired up on one of the live matches – although half time would possibly have to be extended to about an hour. They’ll doubtless work best with the great Adrian Chiles, who’ll once more get the opportunity to wax a little wry on the highlights shows.

As far as their commentators, everyone seems to have decided it’s the end of the road for John Motson. He’s still clinging on, but it would probably be best for all concerned if this was his last tournament. Jonathan Pearce remains an acquired taste, but the Beeb do employ the two best commentators on telly at the moment – Steve Wilson and Guy Mowbray both bring plenty of wit and energy to the job while remaining authoritative and easy to listen to.

While both channels are unlikely to enjoy huge audiences for their coverage (and being Welsh, welcome to my world), big tournaments like these remain one of the things telly does best, and I can’t wait to start filling in my wallchart.

Perhaps only Jeff Stelling can rival Chiles as the best football presenter on TV right now. On Match of the Day 2 he brilliantly combines thoughtful and detailed analysis with laugh-out-loud humour. He’s by no means the slickest host (this week he forgot the word “goalkeeper”) but that’s all part of his laconic charm. He can put proper questions to his pundits, forever asking them to explain exactly why players have done such a thing in terms that fans can understand.

Best of all is the regular “2 Good, 2 Bad” section, where Adrian simply narrates a deadpan summary of all the cock-ups and silly moments that have taken place over the weekend – which in other hands might be awful, but thanks to Adrian’s wit is fantastic (“If you’re in the Portsmouth area, have you seen this ball?”).

Such is Adrian’s success on the sofa, it’s not surprising to see other broadcasters sniffing around him, and rumours are rife of a possible move to ITV. This must never happen, because there’s no way Adrian can replicate what he does so brilliantly in an hour late at night than in the five minutes that ITV provide before live games. He works best in the studio, where there’s time to kick back and take a more reflective look, and gently take the piss when the games are rubbish. You wouldn’t be able to do this while presenting Manchester United vs Rosenborg in the Champions League.

It’s not the first time ITV have been looking to brighten up their football coverage -a while back they were hoping to poach Jeff Stelling, but in the end he turned down their overtures. Again, he would have been completely the wrong fit for ITV, given he excels in the Soccer Saturday format where he’s frantically darting around the grounds. The only way he could do that on ITV is if they let him host the General Election (“Declaration at Enfield Southgate, Chris Kamara!” “Unbelievable, Jeff, Portillo’s out!”).

In addition, I don’t know why anyone with any sense would want to work for ITV given it’s seemingly forever looking to replace its existing hosts with someone more exciting. I’m sure Steve Rider and Matt Smith are thrilled by ITV’s support for their work.

The question is, who’s going to present it? Steve Rider left the BBC in a huff to front ITV’s coverage, so it’s unlikely he’ll be welcomed back. Media Guardian ridiculously claims that “Gabby Logan, Gary Lineker and John Inverdale are all being touted,” but it’s unlikely to be any of those three, and it’s definitely not going to be Gary Lineker.

My first thought on hearing the news this morning was that Richard Hammond should get the gig. For one thing, Bernie Ecclestone would surely approve of someone even shorter than him doing the job.

I’d also like to see James May doing the grid walk (“Kimi, a word? Oh cock”) but that’s possibly less likely.

It also remains to be seen who’ll be commentating, but despite everyone on the BBC Sport Editors blog blindly imploring them to “get Murray Walker back” it’s not going to happen. He’s 85!

On paper it appears the BBC has assembled the best team. Joining the regulars Hansen, Shearer, Dixon and Wright are two former World Cup winners, Brazil’s Leonardo and Marcel Desailly of France who should add a bit of variety to the staid punditry techniques of Hansen and Shearer. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, who is usually one of the better of the team is back too, while the ever-insightful Garth “just how long can I make this question” Crooks will no doubt be on hand to provide his usual probing interviews in the tunnel.

ITV, on the other hand, has a right old mixed bag. Dutchmen Ruud Gullit and Jimmy Floyd Hasslebank are new to British punditry, as is Bolton’s Nigerian star Jay Jay Okocha. Boring old Andy Townsend (wonder if he will be driving his Tactics Truck over to Germany?), Robbie Earle and Ally McCoist are included, having made it back to the football big time after a season presenting highlights show for ITV’s coverage of the English lower divisions. Potentially more interesting is the inclusion of Big Sam Allardyce and Stuart Pearce.

On the commentary front, Motty, armed with his amazing statistical knowledge is of course back for his 48th World Cup finals for the BBC alongside the noisy Jonathan Pearce. Clive Tyldesley will be the main man in charge of the mike for ITV, probably accompanied by the ponderous, yet quite insightful David Pleat or the new Boro boss Gareth Southgate.

Presenter-wise it is two dyed-in-the-wool BBC types heading up the programmes for both channels. Gary Lineker will be hosting most regularly for the BBC (complete with his witticisms and unfunny quips, no doubt), while defector Steve Rider takes charge over on the other side having joined the channel to front their Formula 1 coverage. Adrian Chiles is better than both of them combined, but unfortunately he is confined to the BBC late-night highlight show.