Nordic Entertainment Group, the regional media giant, has secured a five-year streaming rights deal with the Professional Darts Corporation for the Netherlands.
The deal covers major PDC events from 2022 onwards, with Viaplay, NENT Group's streaming service, due to launch in the market in the first quarter of next year.
Viaplay will become the Dutch home for tournaments including the World Darts Championship, Premier League Darts, World Cup of Darts, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, as well as the World Series of Darts Finals.
At present, PDC events are shown in the Netherlands by free-to-air broadcaster RTL, under a partnership dating back to 2012.
As part of the new deal, NENT Group and the PDC will collaborate to develop a major darts event in the Netherlands involving the world's top players.
The country has a strong association with the sport through top players such as Michael van Gerwen and Raymond von Barneveld.
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By GlobalDataThe PDC rights have been acquired on the back of NENT Group's announcement last week of its forthcoming launch in the Netherlands, armed with rights to Formula 1, from 2022 to 2024, and German soccer's Bundesliga, from 2021-22 to 2028-29.
Earlier this month, NENT Group extended and expanded its partnership with Matchroom Sport, the UK-based promotions company that oversees the PDC and other sports event organisers.
That deal covers rights to events in sports including darts, snooker and pool for a further five years, and the territories of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.
Barry Hearn president of the PDC, said today: “NENT Group are already valued broadcast partners across a number of territories and their expansion into the Netherlands is an exciting time for both them and the PDC. Darts is hugely popular across the Netherlands and this partnership will give fans the chance to continue to enjoy top-class PDC tournaments through Viaplay.”