The BBC have insisted that they would have "loved" to have televised Bradford City's FA Cup scalp of Sunderland yesterday, but said that it was not feasible.
Fans expressed their disappointment at the broadcaster's decision to choose the all-Premier League tie between Aston Villa and Leicester City over the Bantams' second-successive FA Cup win over a top-flight side.
However, BBC Sport's football editor Mark Cole said in a statement today that they had to choose which matches to broadcast before the outcome of Sunderland's fourth-round replay with Fulham.
Cole said that if Fulham had gone through to face Bradford, then a Championship versus League One tie wouldn't have been worth showing.
"As the game unfolded yesterday at Valley Parade, we shared the frustration of fans and would have loved to have been broadcasting the match live," read Cole's statement.
"It's everything the FA Cup and our new comprehensive coverage is about. We are speaking to the FA about whether we can change this in the future, but understand it's tricky for them.
"Clubs understandably want to get plans for ticketing, policing and fans in place without waiting for 10 days for TV companies to confirm their selections. But we hope there's a middle ground where we can get a little more flexibility to ensure we have as much chance as possible of capturing cup classics like yesterday."
Bradford are one win from another trip to Wembley and will be in the hat for tonight's quarter-final draw along with Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, Reading, Preston North End or Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion.
Pascal Lemesre
