UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has renewed its rights with the Professional Darts Corporation for a further five years. The new contract will begin in December with the 2013 World Championship.
BSkyB has signed a five-year deal, from December 2013 to January 2017, covering PDC events including the World Championship, Premier League, Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and World Matchplay. In a change to its current deal the contract will no longer include the rights to the UK Open.
The deal was negotiated by sports promotion company Matchroom Sport, the majority shareholder in the PDC. Matchroom also held talks with telco BT Vision, which was interested in acquiring the PDC’s rights.
The new deal is understood to have been agreed at an increase on the previous five-year deal, worth about £700,000 (€805,000/$1.06 million) per year.
The PDC World Championship final regularly attracts one of Sky Sports’ highest non-football audiences averaging just less than 900,000 viewers. The new deal will cover five editions of the World Championship. The World Championship is an annual tournament which takes place in December and January at the Alexandra Palace, London.