like the sun and mail, UTC, who own TS, know their audience. It has no competition, 5live has far less football-dedicated presenters and aims at a different sector, If the BBC decided to launch a rival, the fact of not being swamped by dreadful advertising would be a major selling point. Will never happen, the hierarchy at the beeb have probably never heard of talksport, still behave as though they live in a bubble of smug isolation that is the legacy of a monopoly.
As long as football remains a national obsession TS will continue to be what it is, a station that knows it's audience and how to profit from that knowledge, not having any pretensions of being a serious broadcaster. It's not rocket science.