POT LUCK: The Curious Case Of BBC’s Two-Tier Welsh Snooker Coverage

BBC viewers tuning in for snooker might think they’re all watching the same game—but some are getting a premium experience, while others are left feeling like they’ve been snookered.

At the Welsh Open in Llandudno, top cue-man Ronnie O’Sullivan bailed just four hours before his match—yet fans still packed Venue Cymru, and plenty more settled in at home for the TV coverage. But while terrestrial viewers got the full experience, those watching via iPlayer could quite literally, hear a pin drop between frames.

Here’s how it breaks down: If you are watching on good old-fashioned TV in Wales, you are good to go—games are broadcast live via aerial and on Freeview channel 601 across the UK. But if you are using an online platform like iPlayer, you are treated to the revolutionary new concept of “silent snooker.”

On TV, when a frame ends, we listen to commentators rabbit on or the action cuts seamlessly to the studio, where the likes of Catrin Heledd and Reanne Evans fill the gaps with analysis, anecdotes, and the occasional bad pun.

Meanwhile, over on iPlayer? Often silence between frames.  Awkward, eerie, tumbleweed silence. Instead of expert chatter, viewers are presented with either a wide-angle shot of the arena (exciting!) or a frozen scoreboard (thrilling!). Then, as if someone has finally found the volume button, the pundits suddenly return—sometimes mid-sentence—leaving iPlayer viewers wondering what on earth they missed.

This bizarre broadcasting quirk was also in full effect at the UK Championships in November, where on evenings of the early rounds the terrestrial coverage on BBC2 ended at 9pm. After that the action was available online only and that’s when the commentators who love to warble were told to zip it between games. So, sometimes muted out during dual coverage and other times just a stony silence.

The BBC press office has been repeatedly asked to explain this two tier coverage but the best so far was some vague mumbling about some broadcasts being for a global audience. Right. That clears it up, then.

Harry Turnbull is an experienced journalist based in the north who has held a variety of reporting and editing roles in the media. He also writes a reviews column for the UK’s biggest archive of BBC radio dramas.

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