Welcome to the January Superstars of Darts online newsletter. Two
successful World Championships have now been completed with massive
numbers of television viewers recorded as well as record breaking
numbers on the Superstars forum.
An average of 3 million viewers watched the BDO World Championship final
between Ted Hankey and Tony O'Shea, roughly the same figure as last year
with half a million or so also tuning in from Holland.
As for the PDC World Championhip over 800,000 watched the Taylor /
Barneveld clash on Sky Sports, the third highest number in the
tournament's history and over a million viewers from Holland watched a
live broadcast.
The Superstars of Darts forum saw its record number of users online at
any particular moment broken shortly after the Taylor / Barneveld clash,
only for the record to be smashed again shortly after the Lakeside final
(495 users online at once!).
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Rumours abound regarding potential movers to the PDC. Andy Fordham the
former BDO World Champion has joined the PDC and will take part on the
Pro Tour from the end of February. I am sure well wishes go out to Andy
who has had to overcome some severe health issues in recent years and we
all hope he enjoys the new challenge of playing on the PDC Pro Tour.
Three further movers are expected to sign up in January, watch the forum
for details!
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Could there be Darts on the way to Channel 5?
Robert Charles, Channel 5's Head of Sport was spotted at the Alexandra
Palace, so again keep your eyes peeled for any developments on this
front and remember, you heard it here first!
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Maybe not all good news on the televised Darts front. While it seems
sure that Setanta will be broadcasting a second series of The League of
Legends this summer, this appears to be the only darts they will show
this year.
At this moment in time no new home for the BDO tournaments covered last
year has been announced.
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We didn't see much of top American player Ray Carver last year. The
reason being that he was spending time with his new baby daughter.
Ray is now keen to get back on the circuit and resume his travels to the
UK and is on the hunt for additional sponsorship to enable him to do
this.
Let's hope it all pans out well for "Razor". He is possibly the best
American player on his day and it would be great to see him back on the
pro circuit.
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Maybe there was a slight exaggeration as to how cold the Doncaster venue
was on the first day of the PDC pro tour for 2009. In any case there was
Ice Skating on offer for those who wanted to warm up with some brisk
exercise.
The cold certainly didn't stop Adrian Lewis either, who reportedly hit 8
x 180s in 7 legs in the early stages. Perhaps he should be the successor
to the 'Ice Man' nickname?!
Sky Sports News were at the event and Wayne Mardle, Anastasia
Dobromyslova and Jelle Klaasen had interviews shown on television. The
day's results also made the Sky Sports on screen news ticker - possibly
a first for the pro tour and proof that Darts appeal is just getting
bigger and bigger.
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Don't forget that you have a chance to put a question to PDC Chairman
Barry Hearn as part of an interview that Barry has agreed to give our
forum members.
http://www.starsofdarts.com/
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Finally we will be launching our Unicorn sponsored Premier League Darts
prediction competition in a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes on the
forum.
Essentially you have to enter your predictions every week and the
ultimate winner will be able to select a heap of prizes from the Unicorn
product range.
http://www.starsofdarts.com/
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