This observer will neither particualrily miss Tirico nor ABC.
I'm surprized that this showed so little action; I was going to post it yesterday but was way too occupied. The NYTimes had an article in which the deal was discussed, but there was a bit of missing information requireing a little reading between the lines and perhaps some sleuthing. (can't access TCG.com just now...)
Basically ESPN and ABC were to be removed from PGATour broadcasts. Since the Open Championship (
The most important golf tournament in the world) was not mentioned and it is administrated by the R & A, I would assume that the R & A deal has been cut separately and remains unchanged.
No mention was made of the PGA (PGA of America, not PGATour) which has a deal with Turner for the early rounds, early Sat and Sun broadcasts and CBS for the prime time 3rd and 4th rounds.
The Masters® is of course separate with CBS as are All USGA events with NBC.
The article specifically noted that more run-of-the-mill (my terminology) tournaments of the PGATour are to be shown in their entirety on The Golf Channel to the exclusion of ESPN and 1st and 2nd rounds to go from USA network to TGC (What about the Masters®?
The Golf Channel and NBC perhaps gain the most at the elimination of ESPN and ABC.
What was of interest to me was that TGC was reported as having 70 million subscribers. The little engine that could, especially since owned by Comcast it is specifically excluded from some markets, that number surprized me.DIRECT LINK TO NYT COPYRIGHTED ARTICLE POSETD BELOWA New Swing in the Tour's TV Deals
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: January 12, 2006
The PGA Tour announced new television agreements yesterday that will provide more tournaments for CBS and NBC and shift all of its cable arrangements to the Golf Channel starting next year.
Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, and network executives declined to disclose financial details for the deals. CBS and NBC will have six-year contracts, and the Golf Channel will have a 15-year agreement.
The current deals with CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN and the USA Network were worth a reported $850 million over four years, and all were said to lose money for the television companies. CBS and NBC officials said their new agreements would be profitable.
But ABC and ESPN backed out of negotiations around Christmas, a week or so before the Golf Channel deal was completed, and USA stepped away much earlier.
"The right deal wasn't there to be made," said John Wildhack, a senior vice president of ESPN. "We would only make a profitable deal with a schedule we desired."
Although Finchem was careful not to say that rights fees would rise under the new deals, Ed Moorhouse, an executive vice president of the Tour, said that they would.
The contracts come soon after Finchem shuffled the PGA Tour schedule and announced a new season-long FedEx Cup points program and a four-tournament title series to end in September with the Tour Championship. CBS will carry the first of the four events, the Barclays Classic, with NBC showing the final three.
In all, CBS picked up three additional tournaments, giving it 19 annually, and NBC doubled its roster to 10. But the biggest change will come with the shift on cable to the Golf Channel, which will carry the first and second rounds of 33 tournaments and the entirety of 15 others.
The 11-year-old Golf Channel, which was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and is owned by Comcast, carries a few lesser PGA Tour events and fills its schedule with stops on the European, Champions, Nationwide and Southern Africa Tours. The channel has 70 million subscribers and also features news, talk, and instructional and reality programs. A new reality series, "The Daly Planet," starring John Daly, begins next week.
"The reality series show that we understand the emotions connected to the game of golf and that there are lots of ways to portray golf entertainment," said David Manougian, the president of the Golf Channel. "We'll continue to push that throttle."
Five years ago, Finchem said, he would not have made a season-long deal with the Golf Channel. But Moorhouse said that the PGA Tour grew more confident in such an arrangement as the network added Champions and Nationwide coverage and was acquired by the powerful Comcast.
The network has about 20 million fewer subscribers than ESPN or USA, a situation that echoes the movement of National Hockey League games this season from ESPN to OLN, which has nearly 30 million fewer than ESPN or USA.
Brad Faxon, speaking at the Sony Open in Honolulu, said, "Obviously, whereas with ESPN, people that turned it on for sports might watch golf, someone who turns on the Golf Channel, it will be for golf."
Tom Pernice Jr., also playing at the Sony event, added, "I think the deal will make it easier for the general public to find golf."
Manougian said the network's suddenly elevated profile should help boost advertising and persuade cable operators to increase distribution beyond the 70 million subscribers.
"We felt this was the next logical step," he said.
This year's schedule will feature only the Reno-Tahoe Open and the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, two so-called PGA Tour opposites that are carried on the same days as World Golf Championship tournaments. But next year's slate will begin with full coverage of the Mercedes Championships, the Sony Open and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and conclude with the six or seven tournaments after the Tour Championship in what will be called the "Quest for the Card" to determine player eligibility for the next year's FedEx Cup.
Damon Hack contributed reporting from Honolulu for this article.