It’s Adrian Chiles versus Gary Lineker. Commercial breaks or no commercial breaks. ITV against the BBC. The World Cup ratings war kicks off tomorrow as the nation’s two most popular terrestrial broadcasters go into battle.

The Beeb has spent an estimated £1 million on a state of the art studio overlooking iconic Table Mountain for the South African football feast.

There Lineker and his Match of the Day regulars Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer and Mark Lawrenson will chew over the action.

ITV, on the other hand, has unveiled former BBC man Adrian Chiles as its big-money signing to anchor coverage from the heart of Johannesburg.

There, he will be joined by former England skipper Gareth Southgate, Andy Townsend, and French World Cup winner Marcel Desailly.

The BBC traditionally wins the football ratings war, as fans are turned off by commercial breaks on rival channels in the build-up to games, and during the half time interval.

But ITV, which will be showing England’s opening match against the United States on Saturday, is pulling out all the stops this year to give the Beeb a run for its money.

Media analyst Paul Forsyth said he believed the £6 million signing of Chiles would put huge pressure on the BBC this time.

“He has the knack of asking decent questions, the kind that don’t lend themselves to footballer-speak. The nearest BBC equivalent is Colin Murray, host of Radio Five Live’s Fighting Talk, who will present the their highlights programme.”

As for women, there aren’t many on either channel. Gabby Logan reports from the England camp for the BBC, and Kenny Dalglish’s daughter Kelly Cates presents news bulletins on the other side.

Mr Forsyth said the ITV offering was “more imaginative”, with bosses pulling off a major coup with the signing of Gavin & Stacey star James Corden, who will front a live show after every match, offering an alternative light-hearted view.

But the feeling is that, when the BBC and ITV start going head-to-head with simultaneous broadcasts at the latter end of the competition, even Adrian Chiles will be powerless to combat the “commercial break factor”.

By Carl Jones