Chinese viewers enjoyed Fu's maximum break

Akin to missing an open goal, WPBSA failed to conclude the deal.

This raised the possibility that TSN might throw its financial weight behind a complementary or even alternative circuit under the auspices of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation, the governing body of the amateur and semi-professional game, with whom TSN already has a £6m ten year contract.

The possibility of such a split receded last month with the appointment of Jim McKenzie as WPBSA's managing director.

It was McKenzie's dismissal three years ago from a similar post by a regime under the chairmanship of Rex Williams, which initiated a bitter civil war within the sport.

Bridges

Rebuilding bridges with TSN is a top McKenzie priority, not merely in terms of sponsorship but because WPBSA may otherwise by left behind in the Internet revolution.

TSN's information website received 3.245m hits last month, but the most significant glimpse of the future was the live coverage it offered of October's Regal Scottish Masters.

An agreement for internet transmission of BBC Scotland's pictures meant that the event was viewed not only in England, but in 89 other countries, including some rarely thought of as Snooker strongholds like Mongolia, Uruguay and Bulgaria.

There was a particularly strong response from China as the Hong Kong no.1, Marco Fu, registered a 147 maximum.

These pictures were available free but within a couple of years TSN is likely to be encrypting them not only from this event but from the others which will be necessary to give them primary product and ultimately major revenue.

The question now is whether TSN and WPBSA can work in harness.

If this proves impossible, there is to be an upheaval in which the governing body's authority is challenged. Too much money has been invested and too many futures are at stake for the situation to be allowed simply to drift on.