UK commercial free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 has picked up the rights to two World Snooker Tour (WST) ranking events, the Players Championship and the Tour Championship, for the first time.
The deal ensures that two of snooker’s top-line ranking events will continue to receive free-to-air coverage in the sport’s most prominent market.
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As part of the 2025-26 WST campaign, the 2026 Players Championship will take place from February 16 to 22 at the Telford International Center, while the Tour Championship will follow from March 30 to April 5 at Manchester Central.
Up until 2024, these two events had been broadcast by rival free-to-air network ITV.
In addition, Channel 5 will also broadcast the British Open from 2026 onwards, with the 2025 edition remaining on ITV.
Speaking on the partnership, WST chair Steve Dawson said: “We are delighted to be working with Channel 5 for the first time and to add a new broadcaster to our tour. Snooker has a long history of providing fans with free-to-air events with extensive live coverage, so this is fantastic news for everyone who follows our sport.
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By GlobalData“We look forward to working with the Channel 5 team on these events and ensuring that an outstanding product is delivered to snooker’s consistently huge audience. Our sport had incredible viewing figures throughout last season, and we expect to see that trend continue as we grow across the world.”
This broadcast partnership was agreed by the in-house teams of the WST, led by chief commercial officer Peter Wright, and Channel 5, headed by acting head of sport Raphael Pendergast.
Channel 5 has signaled its intention to invest further in sports rights through a pair of acquisitions in recent months.
In May, the network agreed a broadcast deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board to provide free-to-air coverage of international T20 matches under a four-year contract.
Channel 5 is also currently the holder of a sub-licensing deal with international OTT streaming service DAZN through which it is broadcasting the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup soccer competition.
