Sky Sports will for the first time dedicate an entire channel to darts this Christmas as part of its comprehensive coverage of the 2015 PDC William Hill World Darts Championship.
Launching on December 18, Sky Sports 3 will be rebranded Sky Sports Darts will offer viewers over 370 hours of programming, including live coverage of one of sport’s most colourful and popular festive sporting events, the PDC World Darts Championship.
The channel will offer 18 days of non-stop tungsten television as the biggest names in arrows battle for the enormous Sid Waddell Trophy in front of sell-out crowds at the iconic Alexandra Palace, north London.
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis and defending champion ‘Mighty’ Michael van Gerwen will be amongst a field of 72 players from around the world, with every clash from the preliminary rounds to final exclusively live on Sky Sports Darts.
Sky Sports 3, channel 404 on the Sky platform, will become Sky Sports Darts at 06:00 on Thursday, December 18, and be the only place to watch the PDC World Championship as it happens until January 5.
Sky Sports Darts will the third rebranding of a Sky Sports channel for a single sporting event in just over a year, following similar moves for Sky Sports’ live coverage of the 2013 Ashes series and the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in September.
As well as live coverage of the 21st edition of the PDC World Championship, Sky Sports Darts will screen a host of programmes and special features dedicated to darts, including a new documentary about reigning champion Michael van Gerwen.
Barney Francis, Sky Sports Managing Director, said: “Sky Sports Darts will offer all the drama, excitement and atmosphere from Alexandra Palace for two weeks over Christmas.
“The channel will show every match live, all the build-up and analysis plus a fantastic schedule of features too.”
Sky Sports has covered every PDC World Darts Championship since the tournament’s inception in 1994, when the top players in the sport at the time broke away from the British Darts Organisation to form their own governing body for professional darts.
Since the very first PDC World Championship 20 years ago, the tournament, as well as the PDC tour, has expanded significantly with record spectator attendances and impressive TV viewing figures.
Phil Taylor, 16-time world champion, added: “It will be interesting to watch some of the old World Championships from the Circus Tavern again and compare it to now when we play darts in front of thousands every night at Ally Pally and the sport has its own dedicated channel. It shows just how far the sport has come.”
Sky Sports’ coverage of the 2015 William Hill World Darts Championship will be presented by Dave Clark, who will be joined in the studio by three-time World Champion John Part, former World Matchplay finalist Wayne Mardle, five-time World Champion Eric Bristow and two-time World Matchplay winner Rod Harrington.
As well as the William Hill Darts World Championship, Sky Sports will show ‘World Darts Years’, which highlights the greatest moments from the tournament’s history from 1994 to the present day.
More programming on Sky Sports Darts will include a series of Legends specials and a look back at some of the sport’s best matches, including the 2003 World Championship final where John Part ended Phil Taylor’s run of eight successive World Championships, and the game that changed darts forever; the World Championship final between Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor in 2007.
Sky Sports Darts can be accessed across TV, online and via mobile and tablet devices with Sky Go, while non-subscribers can either enjoy seven days access to the Sky Sports Darts channel and Sky Sports other six channels contract free on TV and a range of devices with NOW TV.
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the PDC World Darts Championship and fans are invited to #lovethedarts with Sky Sports Darts from December 18 to January 4.
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