A seismic shift is underway in the world of darts broadcasting! Starting from the 2027/28 season, the iconic Darts World Championship will move from its long-standing home on Sport1 to Pro7, ensuring it remains available on free-to-air television. This marks the end of a 23-year era for Sport1. Simultaneously, streaming giant DAZN has secured a massive extension, retaining exclusive rights to all major PDC tournaments, including the World Championship, until 2032. Furthermore, DAZN will significantly expand its darts coverage to include the Players Championships and PDC Women’s Series, previously exclusive to PDC.TV, alongside other secondary tours. While Sport1 will lose the World Championship, it will continue to co-broadcast selected major events with Pro7 as sub-licensees of DAZN.
A New Era for the Darts World Championship
The Darts World Championship, a highlight for fans every year, is set to undergo a significant change. After a remarkable 23-year run on Sport1, the tournament will transition to a new free-to-air home on Pro7 starting from the 2027/28 season. This move ensures that the sport’s biggest event will continue to be accessible to a wide audience without a subscription fee.
Sport1 first broadcast the Darts World Championship in December 2004, building a loyal viewership over two decades. However, the immense growth in darts’ popularity and its consistently breaking viewership records have attracted strong financial interest from other broadcasters. It appears Sport1 was ultimately unable to match these competitive offers.
DAZN Secures Long-Term Darts Dominance
While the free-to-air landscape shifts, streaming service DAZN has cemented its position as the primary broadcaster for professional darts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. DAZN has extended its comprehensive rights package for all Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, including every Major event and the World Championship, until the World Championship of 2032.
This latest agreement marks the third extension for DAZN, which initially secured PDC rights in 2017 for a five-year period, followed by another extension in 2022. The PDC’s decision to maintain this long-standing partnership aligns with its strategy in other regions, such as the UK, where it has extended deals with Sky Sports and ITV.
Expanded Coverage on DAZN
DAZN’s new deal brings a wealth of additional darts content to its platform. Viewers can look forward to:
- Players Championships: These intense, often multi-board tournaments feature professional players competing for ranking points and prize money.
- PDC Women’s Series: Dedicated tournaments showcasing the best female darts players, previously exclusive to PDC.TV.
- PDC Europe Super League: A qualification pathway for European players.
- Challenge Tour: A secondary tour providing opportunities for aspiring professionals.
- Development Tour: Focused on nurturing young talent in the sport.
This expansion means that from 2027, virtually all secondary PDC tours will be available for streaming, likely exclusively on DAZN for German-speaking audiences, and potentially on PDC.TV for international viewers. This is a significant upgrade, as some of these tours were previously only trackable via live scores.
The Role of Sport1 and Pro7: Co-Exclusive Free-to-Air Coverage
Despite losing the exclusive rights to the Darts World Championship, Sport1 will not be entirely out of the darts picture. Both Sport1 and Pro7 will operate as co-exclusive sub-licensees of DAZN, meaning they will share the rights to broadcast a selection of major tournaments on free-to-air television.
For fans, this means many popular events will still be accessible without a DAZN subscription:
- Premier League Darts
- Grand Slam of Darts
- Players Championship Finals
- Selected events from the European Tour
- Selected events from the World Series of Darts
The upcoming 2026/27 Darts World Championship will be the final one to be broadcast on Sport1, marking the end of an era before the torch is passed to Pro7.
Current Broadcast Landscape (Until End of 2026/27 Season)
For the immediate future, until the conclusion of the 2026/27 season, the broadcast situation remains largely as it is:
- DAZN: All Major tournaments, World Series, and the complete European Tour.
- PDC.TV: All Players Championship tournaments and the Women’s Series.
- Sport1: Premier League Darts, UK Open, World Grand Prix, European Championship, World Series of Darts Finals, Grand Slam of Darts, and the Darts World Championship, plus selected European Tour events.
This period serves as a transition before the new agreements fully come into effect from the 2027/28 season onwards.
Source: Based on an article from dartn.de.
