What is the snooker event that's being televised on Channel 5?
Professional snooker action returns to terrestrial television screens this week in the United Kingdom with live coverage from the 2026 Tour Championship.
We are approaching the climax of the World Snooker Tour season with only two more tournaments to go - the Tour Championship, and the World Championship.
Both tournaments feature multi-session matches throughout, and both are set to be shown on terrestrial television in the UK.
What is the Tour Championship and who is playing?
The 2026 Tour Championship snooker event takes place at the Manchester Central between Monday 30th March to Sunday 5th April. An annual fixture on the snooker calendar since 2019, this will be the third consecutive year that the competition will be staged at the impressive Manchester venue.
A £500,000 world ranking tournament - with £150,000 of that fund going to the eventual champion - the Tour Championship stars an elite field of only 12 players. The line-up was expanded from eight when the event moved to its current home in 2024.
Qualification is exclusively via the sport’s one-year ranking list - these standings are based solely on cumulative prize money earned by players from ranking events this season. Despite winning the Masters invitational at the Alexandra Palace a few months’ ago, world number two Kyren Wilson did not make this year’s Tour Championship cut.
The top 12 players from the one-year rankings did make the grade, although recent World Open runner-up Ronnie O’Sullivan elected to not to enter, therefore 13th-placed Mark Allen gets a reprieve as next in line.
The top four seeds for the event - all of whom go straight through to the quarter-finals - are Neil Robertson, reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong, reigning UK Champion Mark Selby, and Shaun Murphy.
Seed numbers 5 to 12 must play in the preliminary round first, these are: world number one Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Wu Yize, Barry Hawkins, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Chris Wakelin, reigning and defending champion John Higgins, and Allen.
For the draw, and further information on the 2026 Tour Championship, visit our dedicated page here.
Why is Ronnie O’Sullivan not playing in it?
Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan chose not to take up his place in the 2026 Tour Championship despite being eighth on the one-year rankings list and therefore earning an invite. ‘The Rocket’ won the inaugural edition of this event in 2019.
The 50-year-old is selective with his professional playing schedule these days, but suggested earlier this season that he may play in the Tour Championship, but that’s not going to happen now.
O’Sullivan - who currently lives in Dubai - has played top flight snooker on British soil only once this campaign, and that was a very short trip at the 2025 UK Championship in December when he lost in the opening round to qualifier Zhou Yuelong.
However, O’Sullivan is set to play in the upcoming 2026 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield where he is due to be a seed.
Without a professional title in over two years, O’Sullivan found some brilliant form during his latest engagement on the World Snooker Tour at the World Open in Yushan, China. En route to reaching the final, he made a world record break of 153.
How to watch the 2026 Tour Championship snooker in the UK
Channel 5 is the host broadcaster for the 2026 Tour Championship with fans in the UK able to watch the action live from Manchester all week.
There are afternoon (13:00BST playing start time) and evening (19:00BST) sessions all week, although Channel 5 build-up and preview coverage begins half-an-hour before the action.
All seven afternoon sessions will be shown in full on the main Channel 5 terrestrial station. From Monday to Thursday, evening session coverage is on the main channel until 20:00BST before moving over to one of 5’s secondary channels, 5Action.
However, from the semi-finals (Friday to Sunday), both the afternoon and evening sessions will be shown in full on the main Channel 5 station.
For the opening two rounds between Monday to Thursday, two tables are in operation at the Manchester Central. Coverage of the second table can be viewed live online via Channel 5’s website and app which can be accessed on a mobile, laptop, tablet.
Information on how to watch outside of the UK is on the World Snooker Tour website here.
What other snooker is Channel 5 showing?
This is the first year of Channel 5 showing professional snooker coverage after signing a contract to broadcast several World Snooker Tour events that were previously on ITV4 - keeping them ‘free-to-air’ to those in the UK.
In recent years, 5 has shown snooker from the sport’s seniors tour, but this is its first spell showcasing action from the top tier.
Its first event was the Players Championship from Telford held in February, and it has been confirmed it will also show the British Open from Cheltenham later this year, too.
Channel 5 will also continue to cover tournaments from the seniors circuit with the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship - held at the Crucible Theatre after the professional version is staged there - set for May.
Katie Shanahan is the lead presenter for professional snooker on Channel 5, and she is joined by several big names including Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.