Pluto Snooker 900 debuts as first dedicated snooker channel

Pluto Snooker 900, the first dedicated snooker channel, will launch on Monday October 6 with 18 hours of live coverage each week and backing from seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. The channel will stream free and on demand on Pluto TV and will debut with a Legends Week featuring former champions and leading figures in the sport, while pledging more than 600,000 in prize money for amateur players over the next 12 months.

The channel will use the Snooker 900 format, which compresses frames into 900 seconds, or 15 minutes, and employs a 20-second shot clock, ball in hand for fouls and a sudden-death blue-ball shootout to settle ties. Live action is scheduled Monday to Wednesday from 2pm to 5pm and 7pm to 10pm, with the remainder of the channel's schedule filled by classic matches and episodes of O'Sullivan's coaching series, The Rocket Method.

Jason Francis, the creator of Snooker 900, said the format was designed to "bring snooker to a new generation while still thrilling the purists." Organisers say the faster-paced structure is intended to give more players, including women, juniors and disabled competitors, the experience of playing under TV conditions and in front...