BBC Strikes Deal To Broadcast Top U.K. Snooker Tournaments Through 2017

The BBC has "struck a deal" to broadcast live TV coverage of snooker's biggest U.K. tournaments until '17, according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. A three-year extension of the current BBC deal with World Snooker, the deal "gives the corporation the U.K. TV rights to the World Championship, U.K. Championship and the Masters." The agreement includes digital rights for iPlayer as well as the possibility of a further snooker event being added to the agreement from '14. World Snooker Chair Barry Hearn said that it was important that the sport has remained on terrestrial TV, claiming that 28.5 million people watched Ronnie O'Sullivan take his fourth world title last year. BBC2's coverage of O'Sullivan's win in the World Championship final "attracted an average audience of 2.1 million viewers" (GUARDIAN, 1/9).