Snooker fans were left fuming after the BBC pulled coverage of a tense potential final frame at the World Championship leaving viewers with no way of tuning in.
BBC Two was showing the first-round match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry before those watching were instructed to switch to the iPlayer or the red button to continue watching.
Perry was 5-0 and 6-1 up in the best of 19 clash at the Crucible but blew his lead, allowing Milkins back into contention. World number 14 Milkins was leading 9-8, needing just one more frame to book his place in the second round, when the TV coverage on BBC Two came to an end.
And snooker fans keen to watch the conclusion of the entertaining contest on the iPlayer or BBC Sport website were instead met with a stream of Politics Live, leaving them with no way of tuning in online. The option to stream the match was taken down shortly after before being switched back on, with a number of Twitter users saying they were forced to switch to the coverage on Eurosport instead.
The blunder left fans extremely frustrated, with one user posting: “@BBCSport You've replaced the 8-8 best of 19 snooker match with an episode of Politics Live, and there's no way to get it back via iplayer or links on the BBC sport website (which are just playing BBC2).
“At the time I tweeted this there were almost 20,000 people watching on the BBC Sport website alone...To be honest the BBC are making Snooker harder to watch. Why not open up BBC4 for the World Championships instead of using the Red Button?”
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Another fumed: “Extremely poor to interrupt a match on a knife edge, urging viewers to press the red button, when there is precisely zero coverage on there, on iPlayer or through the BBC Sport website. Thank goodness for Eurosport.”
“Trying to watch the snooker on @BBCSport and it’s showing Politics Live,” tweeted a third angry fan. “In the middle of a tense frame! Bravo BBC, well done!”
While another added: “No wonder you’re losing coverage rights constantly.Absolutely useless. Sky, Eurosport, etc, may be expensive, but you actually get to watch the whole thing."
It is the latest gaffe made by the BBC at this year’s World Championship in Sheffield. The corporation came under fire as fans missed Kyren Wilson’s historic 147-break on Wednesday.
Viewers who were watching Wilson’s match against Ryan Day on BBC Two were instead whisked away to Politics Live at 11.15am. Snooker fans were instructed to use the red button to continue watching Wilson’s break but that was showing a pre-scheduled film of Stephen Hendry and Shaun Murphy talking about using the rest while Jack Lisowski’s match against Noppon Saengkham was on a break.
Viewers instead had to go online to watch Wilson vs Day on the BBC website, switching to table two coverage. The BBC spotted their error and showed the frame in its entirety on BBC Two when the coverage resumed at 1pm.
A BBC spokesperson told Mirror Sport: "We clearly signposted to audiences that they could continue watching the live coverage on the Red Button and BBC iPlayer. We covered the story on the BBC Sport Website, with the full break available to watch again."
That came after previous criticism for the BBC during the tournament in Sheffield, with Homes Under The Hammer and a Danish crime thriller taking precedence in the TV schedule on previous days.
