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The Battle Over PGA Rights

T

TheBigA

This may be the next big story for cable TV rights: The Pro Golfers Association. WarnerMedia is proposing to rebrand its Headline News channel or TruTV for the PGA. It could leave the Golf Channel without its namesake sport? Or no golf on broadcast TV? We'll see. The willingness to rebrand HLN or Tru may have tipped their hand that big changes are coming to both of those channels.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/golfs-pga-tour-looks-to-score-media-deal-as-suitors-circle-11567076401

"A number of deep-pocketed content providers are lining up to bid for the PGA Tour's next media-rights package, and AT&T's WarnerMedia unit is reportedly ready to rebrand its HLN or TruTV networks to secure a deal. ESPN, Fox and Amazon are also interested in competing when the PGA's current contract with Comcast's Golf Channel and NBC, as well as Viacom's CBS, expires in a couple of years."
 
The Golf Channel is equivalent to Fox calling their outlet Speed Channel and once Fox lost broadcast rights to some motor sports leagues then Fox had to rename Speed Channel to FS1.

NBC on the other hand has to decide which outlet gets the NBC Sports Net 2 label is it the Olympic Channel or is it Golf Channel. Having a sports channel thats named for one specific league is going to get that outlet with an undecided future once they lose their broadcast rights at some point.
 
TheBigA said:
This may be the next big story for cable TV rights: The Pro Golfers Association. WarnerMedia is proposing to rebrand its Headline News channel or TruTV for the PGA. It could leave the Golf Channel without its namesake sport? Or no golf on broadcast TV? We'll see. The willingness to rebrand HLN or Tru may have tipped their hand that big changes are coming to both of those channels.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/golfs-pga-tour-looks-to-score-media-deal-as-suitors-circle-11567076401

"A number of deep-pocketed content providers are lining up to bid for the PGA Tour's next media-rights package, and AT&T's WarnerMedia unit is reportedly ready to rebrand its HLN or TruTV networks to secure a deal. ESPN, Fox and Amazon are also interested in competing when the PGA's current contract with Comcast's Golf Channel and NBC, as well as Viacom's CBS, expires in a couple of years."
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if PGA does leave The Golf Channel, i wonder if it opens NBCUniversal up to rebrand Glof Channel to NBCSN 2 to help NBCSN for when their sports event conflictions that normally results in CNBC and USA Network being used for airing other sports events at the same time.
 
RadioPatrol said:
The Golf Channel is equivalent to Fox calling their outlet Speed Channel and once Fox lost broadcast rights to some motor sports leagues then Fox had to rename Speed Channel to FS1.
Click to expand...

That's not how it happened, at all. When Fox renamed Speed to FS1, the channel still had the rights to NASCAR, IMSA, NHRA and and Formula 1, as well as rights to some international and minor motorsports events/series. They have since let F1 and IMSA rights lapse to make way for football, basketball and baseball.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
That's not how it happened, at all. When Fox renamed Speed to FS1, the channel still had the rights to NASCAR, IMSA, NHRA and and Formula 1, as well as rights to some international and minor motorsports events/series. They have since let F1 and IMSA rights lapse to make way for football, basketball and baseball.
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Fox Sports lost E1 to NBCSN then F1 went back to ESPN Networks last year. I think Fox wanted to have a national sports network why they rebranded Speed to FS1.
 
Megatron said:
I think Fox wanted to have a national sports network why they rebranded Speed to FS1.
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I agree, and in practice they've used it a lot for baseball, especially now when they have college football starting up.

The question is will Warner Media flip one of its lower rated channels (Headline or TruTV) to a full sports channel, as tipped in the OP?
 
TheBigA said:
I agree, and in practice they've used it a lot for baseball, especially now when they have college football starting up.

The question is will Warner Media flip one of its lower rated channels (Headline or TruTV) to a full sports channel, as tipped in the OP?
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or could Viacom flip one of it's lower rated channels like Logo to sports after the remerger with CBS is completed and possibly make a bid for full rights to the NCAA tournament?
 
nomadcowatbk said:
or could Viacom flip one of it's lower rated channels like Logo to sports after the remerger with CBS is completed and possibly make a bid for full rights to the NCAA tournament?
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I had expected CBS to put some of the NCAA on their own CBS Sports Channel, but from what I read, they liked the partnership with Turner. Part of it was that TNT is in more homes than CBS Sports Channel. Now that AT&T owns Turner, they might want all of the NCAA for itself, and CBS might do the same. I agree that Viacom has an over-abundance of useless cable channels and could really benefit from some new and fresh ideas. If they really want to be competitive, why not replace The Paramount Channel with a sports channel That would get them in as many homes as TNT.
 
TheBigA said:
I had expected CBS to put some of the NCAA on their own CBS Sports Channel, but from what I read, they liked the partnership with Turner. Part of it was that TNT is in more homes than CBS Sports Channel. Now that AT&T owns Turner, they might want all of the NCAA for itself, and CBS might do the same. I agree that Viacom has an over-abundance of useless cable channels and could really benefit from some new and fresh ideas. If they really want to be competitive, why not replace The Paramount Channel with a sports channel That would get them in as many homes as TNT.
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How much longer does that March Madness contract run? Isn't there another 5 years.
 
TheBigA said:
Ha! That's a funny story. So yes the contract runs until 2025, but they've already signed an extension to 2032. I guess that takes care of that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...urner-ncaa-tournament-march-madness/82939124/
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CBS Sports and Turner will provide live coverage of all games on any platforms they choose — including, the announcement said, “those to be created over the life of the agreement.”
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Thats a big deal, to get full rights to include something that doesn't even exist yet.
 
Don CT said:
Thats a big deal, to get full rights to include something that doesn't even exist yet.
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Making it complicated is that both companies now have new owners, and in both cases, the platforms are beyond cable tv.

The defining factor will be monetization, and you can only make so much money on cable.
 
TheBigA said:
Making it complicated is that both companies now have new owners, and in both cases, the platforms are beyond cable tv.

The defining factor will be monetization, and you can only make so much money on cable.
Click to expand...
This original agreement was unique having two companies join forces. CBS and Turner do co-mingle with the PGA Championship but not at the level of the NCAA Tournament. I can see them running a sidecar agreement for the Tournament streaming.

Don't forget that AT&T had been a title sponsor for a long time before Turner got involved.
 
Appears that the PGA reached new deals with CBS and NBC.
https://awfulannouncing.com/golf/pg...gain-around-a-60-percent-annual-increase.html
Nothing has been signed yet; but the Tour and networks essentially have agreed on terms with only a few minor sticking points remaining. The PGA Tour did not take the short money here, opting instead for long-term deals that will run for nine years from 2022-2030. By early estimates, it’s likely that the PGA Tour could bring around $700 million per year with these new deals, compared to its current deals that were worth around $400 million.

CBS and NBC essentially will keep the same regular-season packages. The big difference will be seen with the FedEx Cup Playoffs. CBS and NBC will produce all three playoff tournaments, including the Tour Championship, in alternating years. As part of the nine-year deals, NBC will carry the playoffs five times and CBS will carry them four times. Previously, NBC and CBS shared these rights, with NBC producing most of them each year.
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Although we're unlikely to see another golf boom like that of the Tiger years, I suppose there'll always be big money out there for the PGA on TV since, large or small, the audience is generally well-off -- many play the game themselves, and golf is not a cheap sport to get into -- and well-educated, especially compared to other sports. Golf's upscale advertisers are probably in no danger of deserting the PGA unless ratings totally crater, which is not happening at present.
 
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