Claim: Darts fell from popularity in the 1980s but saw an increase in the 1990s when 16 top players left the BDO and formed the Professional Darts Corporation.
Evidence: In the 1980s, professional darts in Britain lost much of its sponsorship television coverage. From 1989, the only televised event was the annual Embassy World Championship. As a result, 16 professional players, including every previous BDO world champion who was still active in the game, created their own darts organisation, the World Darts Council (WDC), in January 1992. The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council (WDC). Following the breakaway group's first televised event in 1992 (the Lada UK Masters on Anglia Television), satellite broadcaster Sky Sports signed a deal to exclusively cover three PDC tournaments each year. Unlike the BDO world championship, which was covered via the general entertainment BBC Two channel, Sky's dedicated sports channel allowed the PDC matches to be covered in their entirety. The British Darts Organisation's events were more limited to selected matches and highlights, although in recent years the BBC increased its interactive TV coverage allowing viewers to see many more events live. The Professional Darts Corporation has continued to increase its annual UK televised tournaments in recent years: The World Championship, The Premier League, World Cup of Darts, World Grand Prix and World Matchplay are all covered live by Sky Sports.