The World Snooker Tour (WST) and the BBC have announced a five-year extension of its broadcast rights agreement that will last until 2032.
The new deal ensures that WST Triple Crown competitions such as the World Championships and UK Championship will remain free-to-air for fans in the UK.
Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, said: “Snooker has been a cornerstone of BBC Sport programming since 1969, and extending our partnership with World Snooker until 2032 is fantastic news for the audience.
“It ensures the drama, intensity and excitement of the Triple Crown events remains free-to-air and we look forward to many more years of iconic sporting moments.”
Snooker has seen considerable success on BBC, having first broadcasted on the channel 50 years ago. Last year, Triple Crown events on BBC amassed 33.9 million streams across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. Total viewership for these competitions saw 16 million fans tune in on TV.
WST Chairman, Steve Dawson, commented: “For more than 50 years we have had an outstanding relationship with BBC and their coverage of the Triple Crown is a fundamental part of those three events. So many millions of fans love watching snooker on BBC and it has always been vital to us to keep the biggest tournaments free to air.”
The extension with WST ensures BBC has a strong portfolio of sports media rights content across its platforms.
The BBC owns broadcast rights to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the 2026 and 2030 FIFA World Cups, weekly Women’s Super League games, tennis’ Wimbledon Championship and more.