Has exclusive TV rights stunted the growth of golf?

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Sky and Fox are beginning to monopolise exclusive golf TV viewing rights, which through their subscription policy will unlikey be watched by non-golfers, and ultimately exclude potential golfers who might be inspired by our golfing heros.

Should Rupert Murdoch be required to show his Handicap Card before he is let on the course?

[Wayne_Kozun]

Huh?  What do you mean by exclusive rights?

Fox is available on OTA in the US and pretty much every weekend you can watch golf on the OTA channels like CBS and NBC.  Here in Canada the majors have been on a pay channel (TSN) for the most part for years and it hasn't hurt our participation which is very high.  But most Canadians also get the main US channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) with a basic cable/sat subscription.

[Howard Riefs]

How is this any different from CBS having the exclusive rights to broadcast The Masters in the United States?  NBC the PGA Championship? ABC/ESPN the Open Championship? Etc...

[Wayne_Kozun]

I think he is getting at the fact that in the UK you need to subscribe to Sky and only a minority of the population has Sky vs 100% of the population having the Beeb.  But that isn't analogous to Fox carrying the US Open but it is, arguably, analogous to ESPN broadcasting the Open Championship vs ABC.