Snooker back on ITV

zack01

ITV will screen coverage of a world ranking event for the first time in over 20 years after securing a deal alongside Eurosport for the forthcoming World Open.

And the good news gets even better as snooker commentating legend Clive Everton will be part of the team in the commentary box.

Coverage starts February 25th.

celticfc

Heard this today, fabulous news.

Other than the Nations Cup and the Champions Cup in the early 2000's, the last live snooker must have been in the Dickie Davies years of World of Sport. :eek:

ITV4 have shown over the past couple of years with football, darts and cricket that they give their sports great blanket live coverage and that their schedules allow them to do this.

It really is great news and the fact that Clive Everton is on board is just the cherry on the cake. Here's to more tournaments coming to ITV4.

cherryghost

Brilliant news and more great coverage for the sport. Cheers Barry!

Bruthal

zack01 wrote: »

ITV will screen coverage of a world ranking event for the first time in over 20 years after securing a deal alongside Eurosport for the forthcoming World Open.

And the good news gets even better as snooker commentating legend Clive Everton will be part of the team in the commentary box.

Coverage starts February 25th.

Great commentator.

califano

Good news seeing as BBC are showing less and less interest in it as time goes on. Pity ITV4 is blocked on UPC or is it just blocked when the football is on?. I suppose there is always filmon app.

cherryghost

Freesat has ITV4

Arthur Daley

rounders123 wrote: »

Good news seeing as BBC are showing less and less interest in it as time goes on. Pity ITV4 is blocked on UPC or is it just blocked when the football is on?. I suppose there is always filmon app.

To be fair to BBC, does anyone seriously want to contemplate where snooker would be without the dedication and loyalty the BBC has shown the sport over the years.

Snooker would have the following of judo or bowls if the BBC hadn't invested time and money.

Surprised it's 20 years since ITV last covered a major tournament. They used to have the first tournament of the year in September, the mercantile classic in early January, and the British open in March.

giant_midget

Arthur Daley wrote: »

To be fair to BBC, does anyone seriously want to contemplate where snooker would be without the dedication and loyalty the BBC has shown the sport over the years.

Snooker would have the following of judo or bowls if the BBC hadn't invested time and money.

Surprised it's 20 years since ITV last covered a major tournament. They used to have the first tournament of the year in September, the mercantile classic in early January, and the British open in March.

I see what you are saying about the BBC, Their coverage is piss poor to be honest as of late in my opinion. Eurosport has raised the bar coverage wise. Never thought i would say that, but BBC's coverage of the masters was nothing short of patethic..The only thing i don't like about the Eurosport coverage (apart from Joe's commentary) is the fact that there is no studio time or talking with players but David Hendon and Mike Hallet are quite good!

califano

Arthur Daley wrote: »

To be fair to BBC, does anyone seriously want to contemplate where snooker would be without the dedication and loyalty the BBC has shown the sport over the years.

Snooker would have the following of judo or bowls if the BBC hadn't invested time and money.

Surprised it's 20 years since ITV last covered a major tournament. They used to have the first tournament of the year in September, the mercantile classic in early January, and the British open in March.

Good point but as far as live tv sports coverage is concerned its all about the now. No sentiment for the services of yesteryear. The current top dogs in the bbc and other tv networks are getting top money so id like to see them earn it instead of slashing everything and cutting corners to achieve targets and then glossing over it as if were fools. I mean they didnt even put the snooker on the red button in tournaments n 2012. I mean what does it cost them to just do that(not that i notices as no red button on upc but i was surprised to learn that).

zack01

giant_midget wrote: »

I see what you are saying about the BBC, Their coverage is piss poor to be honest as of late in my opinion. Eurosport has raised the bar coverage wise. Never thought i would say that, but BBC's coverage of the masters was nothing short of patethic..The only thing i don't like about the Eurosport coverage (apart from Joe's commentary) is the fact that there is no studio time or talking with players but David Hendon and Mike Hallet are quite good!

To be honest I thought the BBC's coverage of the masters was really good, all the afternoon matches were live and the red button was there if needed. Nothing changed with their evening schedule which is an hour of live action for the start of the match and then the regular late night round up.

The Beeb have also extended their contract now to provide coverage until 2017 so we will still have the UK,Masters and Worlds on the channel.

Eurosport on the other hand continue to show hours and hours of live action and they now commentate watching from the live feed on monitors in the Eurosport studio in Belgium. Except this year when they actually had a commentary booth in the arena at the Ally Pally for the Masters.

I agree with you on Joe Johnson though, for an ex world champion and a great player in his day he does talk a lot of rubbish. And yes Mike Hallett and Dave Hendon are great to listen to.

green123

no coverage of kens match this morning and no coverage of the other game that was on.

not on bbc
not on red button
not on eurosport

:mad:

califano

But the main thing is Ken won. Bank machine recently he is.

StephenHendry

zack01 wrote: »

To be honest I thought the BBC's coverage of the masters was really good, all the afternoon matches were live and the red button was there if needed. Nothing changed with their evening schedule which is an hour of live action for the start of the match and then the regular late night round up.

The Beeb have also extended their contract now to provide coverage until 2017 so we will still have the UK,Masters and Worlds on the channel.

Eurosport on the other hand continue to show hours and hours of live action and they now commentate watching from the live feed on monitors in the Eurosport studio in Belgium. Except this year when they actually had a commentary booth in the arena at the Ally Pally for the Masters.

I agree with you on Joe Johnson though, for an ex world champion and a great player in his day he does talk a lot of rubbish. And yes Mike Hallett and Dave Hendon are great to listen to.

eurosport is the best if you want to see pretty much every ball for the big tournaments. i like the bbc coverage except that there is so little of if on offer except the finals and semis,

i have upc , most sports on itv4 are blocked out to viewers here so i hope this doesnt include the snooker. most of the darts touraments on itv4 are blocked to upc customers

giant_midget

Bruthal wrote: »

Great commentator.

He is..I somehow think of him and Murray Walker are quite alike with their knowledge of their sports (im a big F1 fan as well)