London UK (May 31st, 2006): The International Pool Tour has announced the most comprehensive live broadcast rights package in the history of the sport with its newly-minted deal with Eurosport, the leading tv sports network and multimedia platform throughout Europe. Eurosport and British Eurosport will show live, prime-time coverage of every round of all major IPT events in 2006. The Pan-European network will also air a number of produced IPT highlights programs, including the recent "King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout." Plans call for approximately two hours nightly of live coverage.
The announcement was made by IPT Founder Kevin Trudeau at a major press conference held today at the Hard Rock Cafe in London. The press event was attended by most of the major UK media, as well as a number of IPT players such as snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan, Gerda Hofstatter, Nick Van den Berg, Vincent Facquet, and a number of other players from the UK. The Hard Rock Cafe cleared out their main dining room to make room for the pool table, reporters, and television cameras. For pictures of the press conference, please visit www.internationalpooltour.com.
Eurosport, the first pan-European sports channel created in 1989, is now available in 19 different languages, reaches over 107 million homes and over 240 million viewers across 54 countries. British Eurosport, which will also provide live coverage of the IPT, is the most widely available sports channel in the UK, reaching over 10 million homes.
"Eurosport is proud and excited to welcome the International Pool Tour to our line-up of prestigious, world-class sports and sporting events," said Arnaud Simon, Eurosport's Head of Programs. "The IPT clearly is the leader in worldwide pool and we believe our commitment to air its major events live will generate a huge amount of interest in both the sport and its players all across Europe."
The International Pool Tour joins other major sports franchises on Eurosport including the Winter & Summer Olympics, soccer's World Cup, Grand Slam Tennis, The Tour De France cycling championship and other top sports organizations such as the PGA Tour. The comprehensive live coverage of the IPT will introduce 8-ball and pool to millions of sports fans in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and across Europe.
"This broadcast deal truly signals the emergence of 8-Ball as a major, world-class sport," said IPT Founder Trudeau. "Eurosport has the most prestigious events and the best TV coverage and now sports fans throughout Europe can experience the live drama, pressure and excitement of the International Pool Tour."
The IPT, the pool world's unrivaled leader in both quality of play and prize money, features the world's most acclaimed players, including many from Europe such as Germany's Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet, Finland's Mika Immonen, Austria's Gerda Hofstatter, Nick Van Den Berg and Neils Feijin of the Netherlands, the UK's Raj Hundal and British snooker stars O'Sullivan and Jimmy White, amongst many others. For the complete IPT player roster, click here.
The first live IPT event to be aired on Eurosport will be the North American 8-Ball Open Championship held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas from July 22nd-July 30th. Players will be competing for $2 million, the largest prize money in the sport's history. For the complete IPT schedule, including tournament formats and prize money payouts, visit www.internationalpooltour.com.
IPT Executive Director Jon Denny promises unprecedented and exciting production value on the live broadcasts. "Simply put," said Denny, "No other cue sport will match it."
Other major worldwide broadcast deals are expected to be announced shortly by IPT officials.
