[SuperSajuuk]

For the first time, every match from next week's Players Championship snooker will be shown by ITV. Table 2 will be shown on ITV X with multi-camera set up and commentary. ITV have previously only shown action away from the main table as either updates or on one occasion they had a secondary stream on YouTube.

Not sure how it has taken so long for ITV to catch up on what Europsort and the BBC have been doing for a good while on their tournaments, but it is very good hear nonetheless. ITV's coverage otherwise is excellent.

www.wst.tv 

I suspect the long delay on this has either been due to budgets (not enough camerapeople to provide that level of coverage, the Table 2 coverage has historically been robotic cameras at lower quality) or contractual agreements that locked ITV out of being able to provide any coverage of that table (beyond highlights or 30 second snapshots). The one occasion you refer to with a stream on YouTube comes across as them actually testing to see if anyone actually wanted the Table 2 coverage to be a thing, and its taken them this long to get that in place for the Players' Championship (because it also requires them to provide the same scoreboard graphics to that table, additional camerapeople and so on).

It is great that this has happened, but remember that Eurosport had a head start back in 2016, when they signed the 10-year exclusivity deal to most other tournaments, and they had the backing of being a major sports broadcaster. ITV didn't have that much of a headstart, and they were starting from a lower level of exposure (having only had a few years of being back on the tour with just the Champ of Champs, and at that time, just moving into the Players' Series stuff). So the fact its taken this long is just a product of "time" if anything.

Commentary for Table 2 will be from Michael McMullan and Joe Perry, btw, confirmed by Hendon on his podcast.