The BBC will launch a dedicated sports service on the internet as part of plans drawn up by director general Greg Dyke to make better sporting coverage a top priority of his early days in office.

In one of his first big policy decisions Mr Dyke has authorised the creation of a sports website providing text, pictures, graphics, audio and video on domestic and international sporting events.

The site will have up to date news, including a results service. Although the budget has yet to be set, staff have already begun work on the site.

Mr Dyke is understood to see the site as a means of winning back some of the ground lost by the BBC to rival broadcasters in the battle for sports rights.

The BBC has come in for fierce criticism over its failure to bid high enough for big sporting events. Some MPs have voiced concern that the loss of sport to commercial services such as BSkyB is eroding support for the BBC and now causing real damage to its future.

Mr Dyke hopes that the new internet service will be a window on to the BBC's sports coverage, pulling its disparate elements together into a powerful display of what the broadcaster has to offer.

The site is being developed by BBC News Online, but will be run by BBC Sport. Bob Eggington, project director at BBC News Online, said the new site would be launched to coincide with the cup final of the Euro 2000 football championship in the summer.

The site, to be found at BBCsport.net, will offer dedicated sections for "six or seven" of the most popular sports. There will also be coverage of a huge range of other sports not normally given prominence.

BBC executives are keen to ensure the site is running in time to cover the Olympic Games in Australia in September and next season's football.

Mr Eggington said that the broadcaster would acquire enough internet sports rights to offer a "substantial" multi-media service, including video streaming.