Discovery and PGA Tour unveil GolfTV to start their US$2 billion deal

Golf’s PGA Tour has unveiled the first-of-its-kind live and on-demand international video streaming service GolfTV, as part of their US$2 billion deal with media giant Discovery.

Beginning in January 2019, GolfTV is expected to supersede the existing PGA Tour Live offering and serve as a ‘one-stop destination’ for a wide range of golf content featuring the circuit’s top players and tournaments.

Golf fans can expect to stream more than 2,000 hours of live action each year, which will be supplemented with an extensive on-demand content offering.

“Our long-term goal is to create a must-have experience that truly enhances the way global fans watch, play and engage with the game every day,” president and general manager of Discovery Golf, Alex Kaplan said.

“Unveiling the new GolfTV brand is an exciting next step in our journey.

“Building on Discovery’s heritage of real-life storytelling and direct-to-consumer platform experience, we’ve already established a world-class GolfTV team.” 

The live coverage will include all six golf tours operating under the PGA Tour umbrella and nearly 150 tournaments annually, including the flagship Players Championship, the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup.

Discovery’s 12-year deal with the PGA Tour includes global multi-platform live rights, outside the US, to all of the circuit’s media properties until 2030.

The company says that it is already working on a ‘robust’ distribution and broadcast partner strategy for the rights portfolio which will optimise the PGA Tour’s reach across free-to-air, pay-TV and digital.

The first year of operations will be broadcast in Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Spain with GolfTV to become available in Poland and South Korea in 2020; Belgium, China, Germany and South Africa in 2021; Denmark, Finland, India, Norway, Sweden and the UK in 2022; and France in 2024.