Introduction
Eurosport has long been the champion of snooker. A channel that helped grow the sport in mainland Europe with people like Rolf Kalb bringing the game to the forefront of sports entertainment. A channel that prides itself on showing some of the more niche sports that other channels prefer not to show. In recent years, the channel has branded itself as ‘The home of snooker’ with Eurosport showing most of snooker’s extensive calendar. After several shuffles, Eurosport UK has great snooker coverage with a fantastic team and crew. Unlike the BBC, which has to split its coverage for Triple Crown events, Eurosport UK always shows a match until its last dying second. With Rachel Casey, Neal Foulds, Alan McManus, and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the studio, there is always plenty of time for them to dissect matches and the players’ performances in them.
Yet I have recently noticed that Eurosport has decided to lean heavier on Discovery Plus to show some tournament matches. A channel that is not free to your Sky or Virgin packages and is subscription only. With Sky axing snooker from its schedule years ago, the BBC and ITV are the only other channels to watch snooker. Even Eurosport tried to encourage people to sign up for Eurosport Player to watch matches, but at least the core matches are still shown on the channel.
Moving Backwards
Like many snooker fans, I was incensed after reading the announcement that Eurosport will pull the plug on Eurosport coverage in the UK and Ireland in February 2025. This is a hair-brain decision by a team in an executive boardroom who clearly don’t understand the lay of the land. Pushing snooker coverage to TNT for a £30 monthly subscription fee is ludicrous. World Snooker talks about growing the sport, but all this decision will do is make many fans desert watching. Why try to fix a problem that isn’t there? I will pay the £16 per month or whatever Virgin charges to watch TNT, but I am sure many other snooker fans will pull the plug or use other means to watch it. Although they say snooker coverage will be free on Quest but who wants to watch that channel? I am so disappointed by this decision, as I have switched from the BBC to Eurosport to watch Triple Crown events. The BBC uses the same people every year who haven’t been near a snooker table for years and don’t watch any of the season, relying on research notes and the Floor Manager to bleat in their ear. Although some don’t like Eurosport coverage, you can’t please everyone, and at the end of the day, you are either a traditionalist or prepared to move on. Eurosport has a lot of money to televise snooker events and has moved away from sticking its commentators in a box in Feltham to commentate on a tournament in China. However, giving the illusion that they are there. A falsehood that I found out many years ago.
Eurosport must think long and hard about this decision, listen to the fans, and reflect. You can’t just railroad through something as big as this and announce it as an afterthought to the media. Although the current Eurosport team will probably be shuffled off to TNT, this will go from A to Z list coverage. There will be a massive drop in viewers as they won’t be able to afford it. Let’s face it: we are still in a cost-of-living crisis, and who the hell can fork out this silly money to watch snooker and all the other sports that Eurosport UK offers? This is pure media greed and just an opportunity to save money. Cheating the viewer out of prime coverage and giving them a scrag end instead. Sort it out and give Eurosport UK a lifeline instead of putting it into palliative care. The viewer matters, and if you don’t have the viewers, the cable gets pulled out, and someone else will have to pick up the pieces. I wouldn’t be surprised if Eurosport UK comes back shortly due to this decision or survives due to the backlash from the general public. Sort it out, please!
