ITV Sport will carry on televising top snooker events for least the next two years following new agreements with the World Snooker Tour and Matchroom Multi Sport.
Snooker fans throughout the UK will be able to carry on watching live free-to-air coverage of the sport’s best players battling for four huge titles on the global snooker calendar, until at least 2022.
The deal with the World Snooker Tour (WST) will see ITV4 remain the home of the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship, while November’s Champion of Champions tournament, which is promoted by Matchroom Multi Sport, will also stay on ITV screens.
ITV has televised snooker events regularly since returning to the sport in 2013, and this new agreement strengthens the relationship and reflects the growing popularity of the sport on its free-to-air platforms.
The Champion of Champions has been ever-present on ITV4 since its inception in 2013, bringing together tournament winners over the previous 12 months to compete for one of the sport’s most prestigious invitation titles. Mark Allen lifted the trophy this season after beating Neil Robertson in the final.
The World Grand Prix features only the top 32 players on the one-year ranking list and was won by Judd Trump last month. Only the top 16 go through to the Players Championship in February and then only the elite top eight qualify for the Tour Championship in March.
Commenting on the WST’s new deal with ITV, chairman Barry Hearn said:
“We are thrilled to extend our agreement with ITV for another two years. They have been fantastic supporters of snooker in recent times and they are a great team to work with. The quality of their coverage is superb and that is reflected in the outstanding viewing figures we consistently see for all four of the top-class events they broadcast each season.
“Our many millions of fans in the UK will be delighted by this news because they are guaranteed snooker of the highest quality featuring all of the top stars, with extensive live action on a free-to-air channel. Snooker and ITV are the perfect partners and we look forward to the next two years and beyond.”
Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, added:
“We’re delighted to maintain our partnership with Matchroom with this deal, which means viewers will continue to enjoy live, comprehensive free to air coverage of some of the biggest events in snooker for the coming years.”
ITV’s new snooker deals come alongside a multi-year deal to continue showing regular live PDC darts tournaments, also until at least 2022.
For a full list of all forthcoming major snooker tournaments on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated snooker on TV listings page.
