MATCH of the Day celebrated its 50th year this week by winning the terrestrial rights to broadcast Premier League highlights for another three seasons.

As a TV licence payer it is hard to know whether to celebrate or ask for my money back.

To pay £204million in what was effectively a one-horse race does not seem like good business, but this is football after all, which only deals in sums ending in six noughts and above.

It is understood ITV were considering launching a rival bid but backed out and the last minute, cue a huge sigh of relief from Gary Lineker et al.

As part of the package, viewers will not just be treated to the flagship show every Saturday-night, but also a Sunday morning repeat, MOTD 2 on Sunday evenings, Football Focus and a new midweek “magazine” programme on BBC 2.

So that’s two shows featuring Premier League highlights and then a few more of people talking about it.

The Saturday and Sunday night shows – the ones that show actual football action – have a combined weekly audience of nine million, so clearly there is still a huge appetite for it.

But I wonder how many of those viewers actually watch Match of the Day when it is first broadcast or instead record it or wait for it to appear on iplayer.

I am sure there are some armchair football fans out there who love watching the show from start to finish, but in my mind I don’t really understand why you would choose to sit through the punditry if you don’t have to.

What is the attraction of watching football then listening to a former footballer tell you what you have just seen?

Since investing in a You View box I am now armed with the power to pause or rewind live TV. So if I happen to witness a goal, tackle or piece of skill that is so stupendous I can hardly believe my eyes, then I can either give myself a minute to let it all sink in or go back to it to relive the moment.

What I don’t need to do is spend five minutes of my life watching and listening to Robbie Savage and Alan Shearer dissect it in mind-numbing detail.

The new world of football viewing has many advantages, but I can’t think of many more liberating than the ability to reduce Match of the Day to a snappy 15 minutes of pure action.

Saying that, there is definitely something comforting about keeping the Beeb at the helm of this national institution.

If Auntie can just promise not to offer Andy Townsend and Adrian Chiles a route back on to our airwaves then they will be fulfilling their public service remit right there.