ITV will continue to provide snooker and darts coverage into 2025 after agreeing a one-year extension to its deal with Matchroom Sport.
Live coverage of this week’s British Open is currently available to UK and Irish viewers through the broadcaster.
ITV has committed to showing free-to-air coverage of the British Open for another year in addition to the Champion of Champions, the Tour Championship, and the Players Championship.
That, however, is two tournaments less than what is being aired on the channel in 2024.
The notable omission is the World Grand Prix, which is set to return to the snooker calendar in 2025 but has yet to be officially announced.
It has been rumoured that the World Grand Prix, which is the first event on the Players Series that also includes the Players and the Tour Championships, will move to Hong Kong this season – although nothing has been confirmed.
Ronnie O’Sullivan triumphed in the most recent edition of the World Grand Prix in January when he beat Judd Trump 10-7 in Leicester.
The World Mixed Doubles has also apparently been dropped from the rotation, an event that was poorly received by players and fans alike earlier this year.
Luca Brecel and Reanne Evans combined to lift the title at the expense of Mark Selby and Rebecca Kenna, but the format was much-maligned and it’s not very surprising to see it absent from the 2024/25 schedule so far.
It would be a pity if there is to be less snooker shown live on ITV given its overall dedication to the sport over the years.
Yet the one-year extension remains positive with ITV representing one of snooker’s biggest and most important long-term TV partners.
Snooker events on ITV (2024/25 season)
British Open: September 23-29
Champion of Champions: November 11-17
Players Championship: March 17-23
Tour Championship: March 31 – April 6
The extension also includes several high-profile Professional Darts Corporation events, including The Masters, UK Open, European Championship, Players Championship Finals, at least seven World Series of Darts global events, and the World Series of Darts Finals.
Marking the huge boom in darts at present, The Masters has been expanded from 24 to 32 players for 2025 to provide an extra session for viewers in January as part of ITV’s biggest-ever year of darts coverage.
Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Matchroom, and continue to bring free-to-air coverage to darts and snooker fans on ITV and ITVX.”
“The deal includes The Masters as it enters an exciting expansion of its tournament alongside the existing big-name events our viewers enjoy annually.”
Tom Rowell, WST Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, said: “This is fantastic news for snooker fans.”
“They will continue to be able to watch the sport’s biggest names across a range of prestigious events over the 2024/25 season, on free-to-air ITV platforms.
“We look forward to working with ITV’s outstanding team, starting at this week’s British Open in Cheltenham.”
PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter said: “ITV have been a valued partner of the PDC for over 15 years and have broadcast many iconic moments during that time.”
“With so much excitement around the sport at the moment, we’re looking forward to a thrilling 2025.”
Featured photo credit: WST
One year extension is not a negative but I’m a little underwhelmed by the deal as the viewing figures are good for a channel like ITV4 and their commentary is the best around. I’d like to have seen a longer commitment. This deal suggests some reservations about going forward long-term.
It’s possible they might still cover the World Grand Prix given the uncertainty over the venue. If it stays in Britain, ITV would probably still broadcast it. The mixed doubles is no great loss but did believe a format change where we saw a mixture of singles and doubles matches could’ve enlivened the event as a spectacle.
One year isn’t really that great of a commitment however as viewing figures are said to be good, I’m sure it will continue, maybe prize money needs to increase as British open us same now as the home nations prize money wise
I’m dissapointed about the world grand prix not on ITV, the ITV events are top notch and I view eith the champion if champions or thd Tour championships as the 4th major, last year’s tour in Man Central was awesome.
What’s more concerning is the lack of transparency with World Snooker for
1) the new Xian tournament wasn’t even on proper TV in the UK but on matchroom while still better than nothing for a big new tournament it’s not good enough, plus it felt overshadowed by the Sauidi event.
Moving the world grand prix is a kick in the face to ITV as thry created this series with World snooker, put it on thd map
If its moving to Honk Kong why didn’t they just create a new tournament,