Sky Sports beat Netflix to 'sign £125M TV rights deal with the PDC'

Story from Daily Mail:

Sky Sports have reportedly signed an exclusive broadcasting deal with the PDC, beating out competition from streaming giant Netflix in the process.

The broadcaster has been the exclusive home of the sport's most prestigious events since the Professional Darts Corporation broke away from the BDO in 1993.

This year's event saw Luke Littler continue his rise to superstardom, going one better than in his inaugural appearance in the tournament to become the youngest-ever world champion at just 17.

According to a report from Telegraph Sport, Sky have inked a deal worth an eye-watering £125million over five years to continue broadcasting darts' premier events.

The fee is said to be more than double then that of the previous deal, and comes as the sport has boomed in popularity in recent years.

Sky were reportedly not the only interested party, with the broadcaster facing competition from both Netflix and Amazon during the bidding process.

With their original deal coming to an end, PDC chairman Barry Hearn warned Sky in November that they would need to 'up the ante' to secure rights in the future.

In addition to the World Championship, which is set to return with an expanded 128 competitors in December, Sky will also retain broadcast rights for Premier League Darts, the World Matchplay and World Cup of Darts.

The deal comes after darts had emerged as the the second-largest sport for Sky, behind only football.

Despite attracting slightly lower peak figures than the 2024 final, Littler's triumph over Michael van Gerwen earlier this month boasted a peak audience of 3.1 million viewers, with an average of 2.7 throughout the showdown.

To put those figures in perspective, Lewis Hamilton's history-making triumph at Silverstone at the British Grand Prix in July averaged 2.2million viewers.

The PDC will likely use the increased TV revenue to increase the prize fund for the coming World Championship.

Littler claimed a winner's share of £500,000 of the £2.5m prize fund for his victory at the Alexandra Palace.

That figure has remained the same since 2019, when it was increased from the £400,000 won by Rob Cross in the previous tournament.