EUROSPORT SIGNS THREE-YEAR DEAL WITH WORLD SNOOKER TO BROADCAST TOURNAMENTS LIVE IN AUSTRALIA

Eurosport’s comprehensive coverage will include 17 tournaments this season, including all Triple Crown events -UK Championship, Masters and World Championships; and all four Home Nations Series events – English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open.

The first tournament to be broadcast live on Eurosport is the Shanghai Masters, starting Monday 10 September at 4:30pm AEST. Competing on the first day will be Australian snooker player and former World Champion, Neil Robertson. Eurosport’s snooker expert, Ronnie O’Sullivan will also be competing at the event in China.

“We’re proud to be working with World Snooker and IMG to deliver Australian audiences live coverage of the biggest snooker tournaments,” said Jonathan Rudd, Vice President Factual and Sports Products, Discovery Australia, New Zealand & Pacific Islands. “This deal strengthens our offering in market, with snooker to be positioned as one of the channel’s key sports alongside cycling, athletics and winter sports.”

“We know that snooker has a passionate and dedicated fanbase here in Australia, so I’m sure they’ll be thrilled with the news that they now won’t miss a minute of the action from key events around the world.”

“This is fantastic news for fans in Australia, who have been asking us for years for live coverage of our biggest tournaments,” said Barry Hearn, World Snooker Chairman. “We know there is demand in the region and we hope that regular broadcast of snooker will help our sport grow in Australia.

“Eurosport has been one of our key partners over the past 15 years in terms of developing our sport across the planet and growing our global footprint. Every move into another territory is a step forward. I look forward to seeing strong viewing figures from Australia.”

Former World Champion Neil Robertson, Australia’s most successful snooker player, said: “Over the years I have had so many fans, friends and family asking me when they can watch live snooker in Australia. Now we have the answer! And all of the big events will be covered on Eurosport. I’m delighted and I really hope this will help snooker to grow Down Under because kids need to see the sport on TV before they want to give it a go. We have a lot of sports to compete with in Australia but I would love to see snooker become more popular. I’ll be trying to win more big tournaments this season to give the fans back home something to cheer.”

In 2016, Eurosport signed a ten-year agreement with Word Snooker and IMG, extending the exclusive TV and digital rights for 18 tournaments of the World Snooker Tour across 54 European markets. The deal strengthened the broadcaster’s position as the home of snooker across Europe.

The 2018/19 tournaments that will broadcast live on Eurosport in Australia are:

Shanghai Masters: 10-16 September (China) – live coverage starts Monday 10 September at 4:30pm AEST

China Championship: 24-30 September (China) 

European Masters: 1-7 October (Belgium)

English Open: 15-21 October (Crawley)

International Championship: 28 October – 4 November (China)

Northern Ireland Open: 12-18 November (Belfast)

UK Championship: 27 November to 9 December (York)

Scottish Open: 10-16 December (Glasgow)

Masters: 13-20 January 2019 (London)

German Masters: 30 January to 3 February 2019 (Berlin)

World Grand Prix: 4-10 February 2019 (Cheltenham) 

Welsh Open: 11-17 February 2019 (Cardiff)

Shoot Out: 21-24 February 2019 (Watford)

Players Championship: 4-10 March 2019 (Preston)

Gibraltar Open: 15-17 March 2019 (Gibraltar)

China Open: 1-7 April 2019 (China)

World Championship: 20 April to 6 May 2019 (Sheffield)

Additional news and coverage will be available at au.eurosport.com/snooker and the Eurosport App.