How to watch Winmau World Masters live and on TV in the UK, USA and Australia

The Winmau World Masters takes place from January 28 through February 1. This tournament is staged at Arena MK in Milton Keynes and is the first major of the new season. Since last year the event has been completely revamped, now carries Winmau’s sponsor name, and is played in a set format. It is also a ranking tournament.

The entry list is headed by world number one Luke Littler, who managed to defend his world title earlier this month and also starts this major as the top favorite. It is, however, one of the few majors the 18-year-old superstar has never won. His best result was a quarterfinal last year.

World number two Luke Humphries will, of course, also be present in Milton Keynes. The 30-year-old Englishman starts as the defending champion after edging Jonny Clayton 6-5 in last year’s final.

Besides Littler and Humphries, there is plenty of focus on others including Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson. The top 24 in the world rankings are automatically seeded into the main draw. They will be joined by eight qualifiers coming through on Wednesday, January 28.

The eight qualifiers will in fact win through via the qualifier which will be streamed live on PDCTV on select boards and comprises of group stages before a knockout to join the big boys. The action will then be streamed in the UK on ITV and the rest of the world in other territories for the most part on PDCTV.

For UK darts fans, the tournament can once again be followed via ITV4. Sessions start at 7:00 PM on both Thursday and Friday and wrap up around 11:00pm. The weekend schedule has not yet been announced in full but will likely follow what is below with the only change perhaps being on Saturday when the coverage may shift to ITV3 in the UK due to football highlights. But that is yet to be confirmed. In the US and Australia, it will be PDCTV that will show the event but this is always subject to change with Peacock in the States and the likes of Stan Sport in Australia having rights to show select tournaments. So every territory is subject to change.

Also Pete Graves will anchor the coverage for the first time on ITV. Gabbie Partington made her debut during the World Series double header and alongside Graves will replace Jacqui Oatley who left after a long time stint with the channel amid the change from ITV to the PDC now running its own affairs with broadcast.

This has also meant that such pundits and commentators familiar to those on Sky Sports and talkSPORT have been hired with Wayne Mardle, Glen Durrant, Mark Wilson and Ian Danter among those to move over in punditry and commentary roles. Familiar faces and voices in Mark Webster, Dan Dawson and Chris Mason remain with the channel also working for the former two like Mardle and Durrant for Sky Sports.