Darts Fans Call Out One Part of Sky's World Championship Coverage

Sky Sports have introduced a series of changes to their coverage for the 2026 World Darts Championship - but one change has not impressed some viewers.

The tournament got underway from Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening, with Luke Littler and Michael Smith both securing their spot in round two.

Smith defeated four-time women's world champion and former PDC tour card holder Lisa Ashton 3-0, while reigning champion Littler also won 3-0 against Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas.

'Lucky D' took Littler to a deciding leg in the opening two sets and averaged 95 in what was an impressive performance, having recently secured his tour card to return to the PDC full-time next season.

Luke Littler gets his title defence off to a strong start with a 3-0 victory over Darius Labanauskas 🤩 pic.twitter.com/0YM01ykzPw

— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) December 11, 2025

Earlier in the night, Germany's Arno Merk defeated former top 16 player Kim Huybrechts 3-1, while Madars Razma also won 3-1 against young Dutchman Jamai van den Herik to close out the opening session of the World Championship.

Sky have introduced a number of new graphics for the coverage to match their overall branding of the event - but the new scoreboard graphic has been criticised by viewers.

The letters and numbers on the scoreboard are noticeably smaller than in previous years, while the marker used to show which player is on throw has been moved to the far left and seems to be less easily visible.

Some viewers also claimed that the scoreboard was appearing blurry.

One wrote: "New scoreboard and font at the darts is horrible to look at - looks blurry."

A second said: "This new scoreboard for the darts is absolutely disgusting."

A third added: "One thing I don't like with the new Sky Sports graphic is when it says BULLSEYE FINISH, SET WIN or WINNER!"

While a fourth simply asked: "Why is it so small?"

Others, though, saw no issue, with one writing: "Liking the new scoreboard graphic at the World Darts Championship... looks really slick."

While a second said: "I'm loving this new scoreboard btw and the graphic when someone wins a set."