As part of the contract extension with DAZN, SPORT1 will continue to show the World Darts Championship as the annual highlight and numerous other major tournaments of the PDC such as the Premier League Darts, the European Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts live on free-TV as well as on its digital platforms up to and including 2026. Kickoff this year next week with the Premier League opener on February 3
Significant expansion of the broadcasts within the framework of the sublicense with four top-class events of the PDC Europe
Olaf Schroeder, CEO of Sport1 Medien AG and Chairman of the Management Board of Sport1 GmbH: "The continuation of our extensive darts cooperation with DAZN is another big and important step into a successful future for SPORT1 after the acquisition of the Bundesliga rights - and great news for all fans."
Barry Hearn, president of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC): "The PDC would like to congratulate SPORT1 on reaching an agreement with DAZN to transmit Professional Darts on their free-to-air channel for the next five years. We have had the benefits of SPORT1 televising darts for a number of years and their coverage has been a major reason for the explosion of interest in our sport in Germany."

Ismaning, January 27, 2022 – SPORT1 continues its darts success story: Sport1 GmbH has extended the extensive cooperation with DAZN in the long term for five more years until 2026 and, within this framework, acquired the platform-neutral co-exclusive broadcast rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for numerous major tournaments of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). In addition to the World Darts Championship as the major annual highlight and the Premier League Darts as the second most important tournament, the package with live and highlight rights includes the UK Open, the World Grand Prix, the European Championship, the World Series of Darts Finals and the Grand Slam of Darts. In addition, four top-class PDC Europe events per year in Germany and nearby foreign countries are now also part of the agreement. Thanks to this expansion, Germany's leading 360° sports platform will show more darts than at any time since darts broadcasts started on SPORT1 (then still DSF) in 2004. The steadily growing darts community in German-speaking countries can also rejoice, as a large proportion of the darts tournaments - including the World Darts Championship at London's Alexandra Palace - will thus continue to be broadcast live on free-TV.

Olaf Schroeder, CEO of Sport1 Medien AG and Chairman of the Management Board of Sport1 GmbH: "The continuation of our extensive darts cooperation with DAZN is another big and important step into a successful future for SPORT1 after the acquisition of the Bundesliga rights - and great news for all fans. Together, we will continue to write the unique success story of darts in Germany: This fascinating sport has an extraordinarily positive image, the international stars are also celebrated as idols here, and the events are celebrated with enthusiasm. The potential in the German-speaking region is huge and the German players are also on a very good path. With our extensive coverage on free-TV and on our digital platforms, we will continue to push this positive development over the next five years."

Barry Hearn, president of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC): "The PDC would like to congratulate SPORT1 on reaching an agreement with DAZN to transmit Professional Darts on their free-to-air channel for the next five years. We have had the benefits of SPORT1 televising darts for a number of years and their coverage has been a major reason for the explosion of interest in our sport in Germany. The partnership between DAZN and SPORT1 with regard to darts coverage augurs well for both players and fans of this great sport in Germany. The future is very bright! Well done!"

2022 with numerous German highlights, Kickoff with the Premier League and the World Senior Championship on February 3

The announcement of the new darts cooperation increases the excitement for the upcoming darts year 2022, which also offers numerous highlights taking place in Germany: Among others the fourth night of the prestigious Premier League Darts in Berlin on February 24, the European Championship in Dortmund (October 27 - 30) and selected tournaments of the PDC Europe are on the schedule. These and many other top PDC events with the 2023 World Darts Championship in London as the highlight at the end will be presented live on SPORT1 on free-TV this year. It already starts on Thursday, February 3, when SPORT1 broadcasts live from 8:15 p.m. not only the Premier League opener in Cardiff but also the World Senior Darts Championship. The tournament with Phil Taylor and many other darts idols will be played for the first time from February 3 to 6 in the Circus Tavern.

Once again record ratings in TV and digital: Continuation of darts success story on SPORT1 with World Championship 2022

SPORT1 has been broadcasting the World Darts Championship continuously since 2004 and was thus in the heart of the action for the 18th time in a row at the recent 2022 World Darts Championship. Once again, very good ratings were achieved: The broadcasts of the spectacle from London's Alexandra Palace reached an average of 530,000 viewers aged three and over (Z3+) in free-TV, the second-best figure in the channel's history. New all-time records for the entire World Championships are the average market shares of 2.7 percent among total viewers (Z3+) and 5.1 percent in the core advertising-relevant target group of men aged 14 to 59 (M14-59). The final, with Peter Wright's triumph over Michael Smith, was watched by an average of 1.65 million darts fans, with peaks of up to two million viewers. In addition, the live broadcast achieved a new record market share of 6.8 percent among total viewers (Z3+). In terms of coverage, this is the second-best darts live broadcast of all time for SPORT1 after the 2018 World Championship final. The coverage of the #DartsWM on the digital SPORT1 platforms was also once again a complete success: Overall, the livestream offers achieved more than 11.3 million views, more than ever before. Another record in the digital sector includes 13.8 million video views.

Launch of the new "SPORT1 Academy - Darts" with record world champion Phil "The Power" Taylor

"Game On" with the new "SPORT1 Academy - Darts": At the end of last year, SPORT1 has launched a new e-learning offer with Phil "The Power" Taylor. The record world champion and most successful darts professional of all time accompanies the course participants in an exclusive training camp and teaches all important aspects to improve their own darts game. In total, the high-quality online darts course contains 23 chapters with a total of three hours of video material. The chapters are divided into the categories "Darts Knowledge", "Darts Challenge" and "A Story of Power". Especially the ten "Darts Challenges", in which the users are taken by the hand by the darts legend to interactive training forms, are an important further development compared to the successful premiere edition of the "SPORT1 Academy - Darts" with Raymond van Barneveld in the previous year. The "SPORT1 Academy - Darts" with Phil Taylor is available on the platform akademie.sport1.de for the special offer price of 69,- Euro. The new e-learning offer was developed by Constantin Film & Entertainment AG (CoFE) and realized together with Sport1 GmbH - both companies belong to the Highlight group.

Attached are photos of Olaf Schroeder, commentator Basti Schwele and SPORT1 expert Robert Marijanovic (Copyrights: SPORT1) and a SPORT1 graphic (Copyright: arc Tirl/Imago) for free use in the context of editorial coverage.

Ansprechpartner für weitere Informationen und Rückfragen:

Michael Röhrig I Martin Rösch
Communications

Sport1 GmbH
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Tel. 089.96066.1210
E-Mail: michael.roehrig@sport1.de
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Über SPORT1

MITTENDRIN mit SPORT1: Die führende 360°-Sportplattform im deutschsprachigen Raum steht für hochwertigen Live-Sport, ausgewiesene Sportkompetenz sowie eine fundierte und unterhaltsame Berichterstattung. Unter der Multimedia-Dachmarke SPORT1 vereint die Sport1 GmbH, ein Unternehmen der Sport1 Medien AG, sämtliche TV-, Online-, Mobile-, Audio-, Social-Media- und Print-Aktivitäten: Zum Portfolio des Sportmedien-Unternehmens mit Sitz in Ismaning bei München gehören der Free-TV-Sender SPORT1, die Pay-TV-Sender SPORT1+ und eSPORTS1, die in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz auf verschiedenen Plattformen angeboten werden, sowie der 2020 gestartete paneuropäische Pay-TV-Sender eSportsONE. Darüber hinaus bietet SPORT1.de, eine der führenden Online-Sportplattformen in Deutschland, aktuelle multimediale Inhalte sowie umfangreiche Livestream- und Video-Angebote. Auch die SPORT1 Apps zählen zu den erfolgreichsten deutschen Sport-Apps. Im September 2021 hat die Sport1 GmbH außerdem die neue Multisport-Streaming-Plattform „SPORT1 Extra“ (sport1extra.de) in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz gestartet – mit einem umfangreichen Livestream- und On-Demand-Angebot an Sportarten und Wettbewerben. SPORT1 ist zudem auch mit einem eigenen SPORT1 YouTube-Channel sowie Gaming- und eSports-Angeboten aktiv. Im Print-Bereich publiziert SPORT1 in Kooperation mit der rtv media group seit März 2021 jeden Monat Deutschlands auflagenstärkstes Sportmagazin „FUSSBALL & FAMILIE“.

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