Challenge and Development Tour reportedly set to be shown for the first time as DAZN's new German rights deal unearths potential future plans

Big news from the darts world: According to Welt’s reporting, DAZN has secured the broadcast rights to Professional Darts Corporation tournaments for another five years. This means the streaming service will now hold the rights through the 2032 World Darts Championship. The current deal, in place since 2022, had originally been set to expire with the upcoming Worlds.

This settles the darts rights landscape in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for the long term in the pay-TV sector at least — fans can plan on a central hub for the key PDC events through 2032. But also has likely given away future plans with DAZN set to not only broadcast ProTours on their channel but also Challenge and Development Tour which have never been seen ever before.

The existing rights package continues to include exclusive coverage of all PDC majors, including the iconic Worlds at London’s Alexandra Palace, the entire World Series of Darts along with the World Series of Darts Finals, as well as the full European Tour.

But that’s not all: DAZN will significantly expand its darts offering. For the first time — aside from a few one-off specials in the past — Players Championship events will be shown by a German rights holder. It’s a genuine quantum leap for the visibility of the so-called floor events, which until now were available exclusively on PDCTV, the PDC’s in-house streaming platform. Even in the UK, it is not shown on TV so this is also a first for any country.

In addition, the PDC Europe Super League is moving to DAZN’s schedule. That’s where the German spot for the World Championship is awarded each year — and will now also be live on the streaming platform.

Perhaps the biggest change concerns the new rights package as a whole: broadcasts of the Challenge Tour, Development Tour, and Women’s Series are also planned. This is unprecedented. Never in PDC history have the Challenge and Development Tours been shown on a regular basis — up to now, these circuits have taken place entirely behind closed doors.