This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

The BBC's portfolio of sports rights continues to be whittled away, with pay-TV broadcaster ESPN stepping in to jointly air the 2012 World Professional Darts Championships in January.

ESPN has reached an agreement with BDO, the sport's governing body, and BBC Sport to split coverage, with former BBC presenter Ray Stubbs lined up to anchor its output.

The sports broadcaster has secured the live and exclusive rights to the evening darts sessions of the tournament running from 9-13 January.

ESPN, which broadcast its first live darts last month with the 2011 Winmau World Masters, will also air one semi-final exclusively and highlights of the final, which take place on 14 and 15 January respectively.

The BBC will hold on to live and exclusive coverage of afternoon sessions on the opening weekend – 7 and 8 January – and run extended afternoon highlights on the four days following that, as well as a late-night highlights show on BBC2.

Come finals weekend the BBC, which uses presenter Colin Murray and former darts player Bobby George, will air one semi final and the final exclusively.

Commentary for both broadcasters will come from David Croft and Tony Green.

ESPN has also struck its first deals to air live golf and tennis programming in a bid to move into weekday daytime sports and build its sport portfolio beyond predominantly football and rugby.

The US broadcaster will air eight days of live coverage from the Australian PGA Championship and the Emirates Australian Open, both of which are held later this month.

ESPN will also broadcast the BNP Paribas Showdown next March, live from Madison Square Garden in New York, which is due to feature players including Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer.

Last week ITV snatched the rights to the French Open tennis tournament, as the BBC looks to reduce what it spends on sport as part of the "Delivering Quality First" cost-cutting initiative.

Earlier this year the BBC struck a deal with BSkyB to jointly broadcast Formula One until 2018. However, the corporation last week reached a deal to keep exclusive rights to Wimbledon until 2017.

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