Friday 6 February 2015 21:10, UK
Sky Sports will exclusively broadcast The Open Championship live from 2017 after signing a ground-breaking five-year deal with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
Golf’s oldest major will be broadcast by Sky’s award-winning golf team from 2017, meaning viewers can enjoy a live golf schedule offering over 100 tournaments a year, including all four majors, the Ryder Cup, and every event on the European Tour and PGA Tour.
Sky Sports will extend and enhance coverage of The Open, including live coverage of all four days' play in their entirety across TV, online, tablet and mobile devices, allowing customers to watch wherever they are.
Both new and existing golf fans will benefit from this partnership, which will enable The R&A to make a ground-breaking investment in grassroots golf, and work with Sky Sports to excite and engage viewers through the innovative coverage.
The Open is the world’s pre-eminent golf championship and we are committed to taking coverage of the event to new levels
Sky Sports managing director, Barney Francis, said: “The Open is the world’s pre-eminent golf championship and we are committed to taking coverage of the event to new levels.
“We offer something for every sports fan and this exciting agreement for The Open means our customers can now enjoy all four Majors live. Sky Sports has a passion for golf that has spanned two decades, offering unrivalled commitment, airtime and promotion as well as year-round innovative coverage.
“We look forward to working with The R&A to entertain and engage new and existing golf fans through our multi-platform coverage and also at the grassroots level via Sky Academy.”
Peter Dawson, the chief executive of The R&A, added: “We believe this is the best result for The Open and for golf. The way people consume live sport is changing significantly and this new agreement ensures fans have a range of options for enjoying the Championship on television and through digital channels.
“Sky Sports has an excellent track record in covering golf across its platforms and has become the home of live golf coverage over recent years. We are very much looking forward to working with them to develop and enhance the coverage of The Open.”
Sky Sports has an excellent track record in covering golf across its platforms and has become the home of live golf coverage over recent years
The new rights agreement also offers Sky Sports viewers exclusively live coverage of the Walker Cup in 2019 at Royal Liverpool.
Golf coverage features on Sky Sports every week of the year and the studio’s golf analysis team, with some of the sport’s biggest names, and over 200 tournament wins and 43 Ryder Cup appearances between them, including Jack Nicklaus, Colin Montgomerie, Butch Harmon and Paul McGinley.
Sky has pioneered golf innovations to continually develop the coverage and to bring fans closer to the sport, including showing all three days in full of The Ryder Cup, HD, 3D, interactive and multi-platform coverage, and more in-depth analysis through the Shot Centre and Sky Cart.
The full schedule is available to those that subscribe to Sky Sports, to existing Sky customers for as little as £24.50 a month and also to non-subscribers through NOW TV, the UK’s leading streaming service available on 60 devices, which offers access to all seven sport channels for £6.99 a day or through a week pass at £10.99.
