Big changes at the GOLF CHANNEL

[Tommy Williamsen]

Among other things is the demise of its Website.


https://www.morningread.com/news-opinion/feature/2020-10-19/changes-at-golf-channel-could-get-a-fuzzy-reception?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning+Read+10-20-2020

[Tom_Doak]

Seems odd that the story implies that cutting their website will save significant $.  Will anyone here miss that?

[Kalen Braley]

Interesting, I thought the article implied the opposite. From the article:

The most noticeable change in Golf Channel’s identity is likely to come from the dissolution of its website, GolfChannel.com, which will be integrated into NBCSports.com by the end of 2020 and become accessible only by the scroll-down menu so prevalent on other general-sports sites.
How big is the loss? We’ll have to see for ourselves. In terms of comprehensive golf coverage from horn to hoof, no journalistically based Internet domain can match GolfChannel.com’s consistency, timeliness and nose for news. The website has played a huge role in the network’s reputation for one-stop shopping. There might be a half-dozen or so other websites with similarly strong credentials, but none of them had a television network behind it, leaving us to wonder whether the NBCSports version will pack as much punch and volume as the original.

[Tom_Doak]

I did a bad job of wording that.  I meant that I was surprised that cutting the web site would save $ and the article implied that was the reason for all the changes being made.

[Kalen Braley]

Agreed there Tom,

Websites are relatively cheap to run and you can do it from anywhere.  I'm surprised they're giving up their name to be fully integrated into the NBCSports site which I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone there.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Agreed there Tom,

Websites are relatively cheap to run and you can do it from anywhere.  I'm surprised they're giving up their name to be fully integrated into the NBCSports site which I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone there.

I guess they want all online sport reporting to be under one big umbrella.

[Alex Miller]

Agreed there Tom,

Websites are relatively cheap to run and you can do it from anywhere.  I'm surprised they're giving up their name to be fully integrated into the NBCSports site which I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone there.

Depends on how it's done. NBC will probably be able to absorb this and use a lot of existing resources, both technical and content, to significantly reduce costs. It's a strangely worded article, but I'm sure the golfchannel.com domain will remain active and redirect to nbcsports.com/golf or something (in fact, the reverse is true today).


The new site will likely be better positioned to push people to live streams and promote viewership like the existing nbcsports entities, as well as better reach and opportunities for selling ads. Views, watch time, app downloads, all coalesced under nbcsports will help them show growth and impress investors, and this makes NBC Sports more popular in the app store as well. Downloads, MAU's, Views are what they're after - I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.

[Tim_Cronin]

When it happens, just bookmark the new NBCGolf page, or whatever it's called. No need to deal with the rest of it if you don't want to.