TERRESTRIAL television coverage of snooker and darts is set to undergo a major shake-up from next season.
ITV has done an excellent job covering the two sports over the past decade and more, showcasing the best of Luke Littler and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
GettyITV Sport staff are likely to see their freelance work dry up.[/caption]
Their coverage has been fronted by respected presenters Jill Douglas and Jacqui Oatley and expert analysis has been provided by former world champions Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty.
But from 2026, it is believed multi-sport promoter Matchroom Media will produce the two sports themselves – except for top Sky Sports and BBC events.
Production staff involved behind-the-scenes at the World Snooker Championship were given the bombshell news this week that the ITV package would be changing by the end of the year.
And many individuals, including pundits, commentators, floor managers and make-up assistants, are likely to miss out and see their freelance work dry up.
More information will be revealed this month and Channel 5 are also rumoured to be involved in some capacity and potentially showcase live snooker on their terrestrial TV platform.
A one-year extension for snooker on ITV was announced in September 2024 and covered this season’s British Open, Champion of Champions, Players Championship and Tour Championship.
On the darts side of that deal, PDC events in 2025 included The Masters, UK Open, European Championship and the Players Championship finals, as well as a minimum of seven global events from the World Series of Darts.
One source told SunSport: “Gutted as the guys who work on it are brilliant and we’ve all had the best fun working hard to try to produce quality TV. But money talks and that’s life.
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“So, no more ITV presenters and pundits, just whoever Matchroom ‘host’ broadcaster uses.
“A big kick in the guts. ITV people are brilliant. Everyone’s very upset. Poor freelance floor managers, makeup artists, losing a lot of work.”
Asked about the collection of ITV snooker events finding a new home, Matchroom Sport founder and president Barry Hearn said: “It’s nearly done.
“There’s going to be a mixture of broadcasters because quite honestly, broadcasters like snooker. You know, it’s delivering ratings.
“We live in a numbers game. ITV4 has been fantastically successful for us in the numbers it’s got.
“So, obviously some of the other stations want snooker. And I think in the next couple of weeks we will lay out the deals that we’ve done.
“It’s going to involve a multiple number of broadcasters. Some free-to-air, some behind the pay-model.
“But it’s a compliment to where snooker is that it’s in demand.
“We need to be more encouraging to the younger market, which involves talking to them in the language that they understand and the medium that they understand.
“And that’s why the world is becoming more digital. The future is more Netflix than free-to-air.
“People will be able to watch what they want to watch, the sports they want to watch, when they want to watch it and for a price they can afford. I find that really exciting.”
ITV, Channel 5, the PDC and WST all declined to comment when approached by SunSport.
GettyBarry Hearn, president of Matchroom Sport, has said snooker is close to finding new broadcasting home[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
