Golf

US PGA Championship set for TV blackout as Sky lose rights

News comes as embarassment ahead of launch of dedicated golf channel

Jimmy Walker won last year’s US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Ewan Murray
Thu Jul 13 2017 - 20:28

The final major of the golfing year is set for a live television blackout in Ireland and the UK after it emerged Sky Sports had lost the rights to the US PGA Championship.

The PGA of America, which runs the tournament, confirmed that Sky’s deal – which had run for a decade – has not been renewed because a completely different media model is being pursued.

It is an embarrassment to Sky, which has pitched itself as the home of television golf in the UK, owing to its live coverage of the PGA and European Tours. Sky launched a dedicated golf channel only days ago with majors at the heart; the one taking place at Quail Hollow in a month’s time will not now be included.

“We had a good partnership with Sky but the 2017 US PGA Championship will not be on Sky,” said the PGA of America’s chief commercial officer, Jeff Price. “It was a multi-year deal that was up. Ultimately one of the key things for us is scale of distribution and obviously with all the new platforms that consumers are engaging with, we want to make sure we reach all of them.”

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Price’s comments intriguingly suggest a move away from the traditional television rights scene, a matter that will be of fascination to golf insiders. Social media will inevitably play a key part, with the possibility of a television highlights package also in the works.

“Broad distribution, multi-platform distribution is the key objective for us,” he said. “I’m not in a position yet to share all the details but we want the ability to engage golf fans of all ages across all platforms.

“We want the broadest distribution we can possibly have and are very excited about the plan we have in place.”

Next week Sky will be the prime broadcaster of the Open for the second time. That switch from terrestrial television, which at the time meant Sky showed every major live in the UK, led to ferocious criticism of golf’s ruling body as the sport battles to attract fresh interest. Open viewing figures last year at Royal Troon were understandably far lower than when the competition was live on the BBC.

(Guardian service)

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