PDC on BBC ?

Devastator

Link

I’ve heard a whisper (from a reliable source) that the BBC may have agreed with the PDC to show a PDC tournament in 2011.
PDC Darts on the BBC next year, you may have heard it here first...



If true, that would bring the world of PDC darts to bigger terrestrial audiences, and hopefully make household names of the stars. Currently the BBC only really televise BDO darts, and only the BDO World championships at the lakeside at that (and to be honest, the coverage is patchy at best, with mostly recorded highlight shows in the evenings rather than full live coverage).
Darts is quickly starting to get back onto TV, as ITV show the ‘Grand Slam of Darts’ tournament, which is a PDC event, which also features BDO players, and Bravo will be showing the European Darts championships at the end of July.
There is currently no indication if this BBC televised event would be a new tournament, or one that Sky currently show…
The rumour is also that the BBC did make an offer to televise the PDC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, taking it from Sky TV. That would be a very interesting move – as it could have repercussions on the BBC showing the BDO Lakeside event (especially as there’s a little overlap!). I could speculate that if this was true, that the BDO Lakeside event is in danger of losing it’s TV status in the future.
The question is, can the BBC up its game on televised darts, as many people (including myself) do not think it currently does a professional enough job of what it does now. To be blunt, Tony Green is way past his sell by as a commentator (he makes many factual mistakes in his comments, as if he doesn’t do any research on the players he commentates on). The camera work is also below par (below SKY and ITV’s), as the spotting seems slow, and the camera often fails to focus on the right areas of the board. EDIT: As Andy says in his comment, I do have to say that the BBC’s David Croft is a great commentator, and many fans have often said he should be used in more darts commentary.
Also the presenter could do with being replaced (sorry but that radio DJ they used was TERRIBLE and admitted he had no knowledge of darts during the BBC coverage this year).

If this is true(about an event, not even WC) I think it would effectivly see the final nails being prepared for the BDO coffin. After the BDO rejecting Hearn's offer I wouldnt put it past him to do everything in his power to bascally wipe out any income the BDO had and the television money could be a big chunk of that. Hearn is also now snooker chairman so will probably now be in more contact with BBC boss' than he had been previously so could use his time for both sports

dartbhoy

Is the Grand Slam Of Darts contract up for renewal after this year? If so it's possible that's what the BBC will be televising. I'm sure when the GSOD started originally BBC were going to screen it first but as we know now ITV ended up screening it eventually. Either way whatever tournament it is,more PDC darts on terrestial TV has to be good news IMO.

Kingp35

I don't want the BBC anywhere near PDC tournaments. They are absolutely terrible at showing the darts, have hardly any of the games on live, stop showing a match even if it hasn't finished yet and the overal coverage is awful.

Hope they stay the hell way from the PDC and instead let ITV show the darts.

dartbhoy

Kingp35 wrote: »

I don't want the BBC anywhere near PDC tournaments. They are absolutely terrible at showing the darts, have hardly any of the games on live, stop showing a match even if it hasn't finished yet and the overal coverage is awful.

Hope they stay the hell way from the PDC and instead let ITV show the darts.

BBC would have to improve the quality of programming on darts i'd agree with but i'm sure Mr Hearn will have a big say in the running of a tournament on BBC if indeed it does happen.