"Quality and Quantity" - TNT Sports assures fans ahead of TV snooker switchover

It had been predicted for some time, but official news broke earlier this week that the linear Eurosport TV channels in the UK and Ireland will cease to be on February 28th, with the station being absorbed by TNT Sports who have been on air there for the past few years after replacing the previous BT Sport network.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) own a plethora of revered international media brands, including TNT Sports and HBO. In 2022, Discovery - who bought Eurosport seven years earlier - merged with Warner Media.

Eurosport has been on the box in the UK for the past 35 years, and for the last two decades or so, snooker fans have been able to consistently watch a catalogue of ranking events every season. The station has been pivotal in providing live coverage during a time that the snooker calendar boomed following Barry Hearn's takeover of the sport in 2010.

The brand is often credited with creating a new wave of fans and players across Europe, and it is important to note that this new change only affects the UK and Ireland, with the existing Eurosport TV channels and arrangements staying the same elsewhere on the continent.

Since the announcement of Eurosport TV's closure in the UK, there has been much online debate as to what this means for fans in the UK and Ireland in terms of how much coverage there will be, what the product will look like, and how much it will cost.

Whilst supporters of other sports who watch programming on Eurosport are also affected, we reached out to TNT Sports who were happy to provide comment and clarification.

TNT confirmed that all of Eurosport's existing roster of World Snooker Tour event coverage will now be showcased on the channel, and that the high production standards fans have enjoyed will be maintained.

The team also believes that snooker's move to the multi-channel brand - that also covers top tier football and rugby - could help raise the profile of the sport and put it in front of new fans.

"Every tournament which was previously available to view on Eurosport's linear channels (Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2) will be available on TNT Sports' linear channels" explained TNT.

"The production value will not decrease and the current studio team (of Radzi Chinyanganya, Rachel Casey, Jimmy White, Alan McManus and Ronnie O’Sullivan - subject to his playing schedule) will be unchanged. We are always looking to enhance our coverage - we will explore other ways to do this.

"We are also confident that snooker being exclusively housed amongst more mainstream sports and events, such as Premier League, European club football, international and Premiership rugby, boxing, UFC MotoGP and international cricket, will give it more visibility. It will encourage audience cross-over and help increase popularity and drive growth of the sport."

As well as the main linear TV coverage, many fans were concerned about a potential loss of access to view multiple tables during both the main venue stages of tournaments, and the qualifying rounds, but the online discovery+ platform will remain the same, albeit a price increase as TNT coverage will feed that service instead of Eurosport.

TNT said: "All the existing additional digital feeds showing other tables will still be available on discovery+, as well as all the main tournament coverage too. So in short, there will be no loss of rights, and tournaments will still be just as available and accessible to watch from a linear perspective. The content discovery+ offers remains unchanged."

There will still be 'free-to-air' snooker coverage for certain competitions too, with TNT stating that this access remains "very important" and that "all snooker coverage previously broadcast on free-to-air will remain the same."

The issue that has raised most concern amongst the snooker community in recent days is the cost increase for some to view these events. Many fans have been paying £6.99 a month to watch Eurosport snooker coverage on the discovery+ platform, but the price of that service is now going up as it is exclusively part of the premium subscription tier.

There won't be an alternative subscription package to access only snooker coverage, nor for any other sport that TNT covers, however, there may be several more cost-effective ways for fans to tune into the action if they shop around.

Sky, Virgin and Amazon etc. are all platform partners of TNT Sports, and they have their own packages and price points to access the channel, so the cost increase may not be as steep for some as perhaps first feared.