Having already managed to stream the Shanghai Masters qualifiers online recently, 110sport.tv appear to be showing no signs of resting on their laurels as in addition they have now signed a deal to broadcast snooker in China…
For information and quotes from 110sport chairman Lee Doyle and Managing Director David MacKinnon, please click the following links:
- Snooker-loopy Chinese to give Scots firm its big break, (Sunday Herald)
This looks to be great news both for China, a country that as described in the articles is really booming at the moment as far as snooker is concerned and indeed 110sport who could be set to make quite a profit if this is successful. I did not see their coverage from the Shanghai qualifiers but after a few opening day teething problems, the general view seems to be positive and it will surely only improve with time.
The China deal aside, there are a few other interesting points to come from the articles, most encouragingly the quotes from McKinnon suggesting that they want to get fans more involved with the sport:
“We’ve seen that sports fans want to be much closer to the action and to find out more about their sport and its personalities. They want locker-room access to the players and our management wing gives them this. We’re planning chat rooms and blogs where sports buffs can talk to their heroes. This is what 110sport.tv is all about.”
“We’re looking at how we can perhaps interview snooker players between breaks to get a closer insight into the action”
I am not too sure about interviewing players between frames (though in an exhibition style tournament it might not be so bad), but the idea of getting fans closer to the action is certainly a good one and is an area where snooker has clearly fallen behind other sports during the past decade. You only have to look at the lack of good websites for players in comparison to sports such as tennis where many of the top players manage to communicate well with their fans to see that there is room for improvement. I would stop short of allowing chanting during matches as is suggested in one of the articles however!
Already if you look at the 110sport.tv website you can a few interesting videos such as Stephen Hendry giving a ‘masterclass’ on cue ball control, as well as the last frame of Michael White’s victory over John Parrott recently at Pontin’s. With matches such as Steve Davis v Jimmy White (scheduled for October 30th), still to come, it looks like this is just the beginning…