Sky Sports, Professional Darts Corporation Reach Five-Year Agreement

Sky Sports has agreed to a new rights deal with the Professional Darts Corporation that "will take their partnership into its 25th year," according to Andrew Laughlin of DIGITAL SPY. Under the new five-year deal, Sky Sports viewers will get "over 50 days of live and exclusive darts throughout the year," including the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship each Christmas until '18. They will also get live coverage of the McCoy's Premier League, PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix, William Hill Grand Slam of Darts, Betfair World Cup of Darts and the Betfair World Matchplay. The World Championships now offers £1M ($1.5M) in prize money, and over £5M ($7.5M) is paid out annually in prizes on the PDC circuit. Alongside TV coverage, live PDC darts "will also be available via Sky Go, the multi-platform service for watching Sky TV on other devices such as smartphones, laptops and games consoles" (DIGITAL SPY, 3/7).