PGA Tour Live Moving To NBC Sports Gold In 2019
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After testing out PGA Tour Live with ESPN's new streaming service, the pre-Golf Channel telecasts will move to NBC Sports Gold in 2019 and feature more viewer-friendly synergy between Golf Channel and PGA Tour Live telecasts. Obviously, as a Golf Channel contributor, I'm thrilled to see the move as it strengthens the Tour-GC relationship, but as a fan, the sense of a competitive vibe where the PGA Tour was not in lockstep with its cable partner did little to serve fans.
Of course, I say all of this as a cable TV lover who will not cut the cord anytime soon, so I'm not the demo sought after here.
Judging by the "passes" offered at NBC Sports Gold, expect a golf pass that becomes a future option for cord cutters.
In the meantime, For Immediate Release...
PGA TOUR & NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC OTT PARTNERSHIP
PGA TOUR LIVE’s Thursday & Friday Morning Coverage to be Distributed as Standalone Subscription Offering within NBC Sports Gold in 2019
PGA TOUR LIVE Joins Premier League, Tour de France, Rugby World Cup & Boston Marathon within NBC Sports Gold Offerings
Available on Desktop, Android and iOS Devices, Apple TV; and New for PGA TOUR LIVE via Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and Roku
ORLANDO & PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – (July 31, 2018) – Today the PGA TOUR and NBC Sports Group announced a new, innovative, multi-year digital partnership. Starting in 2019, NBC Sports Gold, NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product, will be the United States’ home of PGA TOUR LIVE, the PGA TOUR’s over-the-top subscription video service. The partnership includes rights to all of PGA TOUR LIVE’s Thursday and Friday morning coverage from 28 events, starting with the CareerBuilder Challenge in January, featuring THE PLAYERS in March, and running through the FedExCup Playoffs in August.
Since launching in 2015, PGA TOUR LIVE has brought fans exclusive coverage of the best players in the world on Thursday and Friday mornings – the first time that complete, live coverage of morning marquee groups was offered. The platform also features real-time video highlights, complete round replays and tournament recap programming.
NBC Sports Gold is an industry leader in direct-to-consumer live streaming with a robust portfolio of properties. Launched in 2016, NBC Sports Gold’s offerings complement NBC Sports’ broadcast and cable distribution. In addition to PGA TOUR LIVE, NBC Sports Gold includes packages for fans of the Tour de France, Premier League, Rugby World Cup, Boston Marathon, Pro Motocross and also coming in 2019, IndyCar, among others. As part of NBC Sports Gold, PGA TOUR LIVE will be available on desktop, Android and iOS Devices, Apple TV; and will expand to Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and Roku next year. NBC Sports Gold is powered by Playmaker Media, NBC Sports Digital’s best-in-class live streaming and VOD solution, which in 2018 delivered 4.37 billion live streaming minutes for the three biggest digital events: Super Bowl LII, Winter Olympics, and FIFA World Cup.
“Since we launched PGA TOUR LIVE in late 2015, the fan feedback has been tremendous,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA TOUR. “In 2018, virtually every key metric is up triple digits versus last year and the coverage gets better and better every week. Moving PGA TOUR LIVE over to NBC Sports Gold represents the next evolution of our product. Not only will Golf Channel and NBC Sports be promoting PGA TOUR LIVE to its massive audience of millions of television and digital viewers, but also, PGA TOUR LIVE will now be available on several new connected TV devices due to NBC Sports’ expanded platform distribution. In 2019, our live coverage will be significantly better, and more accessible, for subscribers of PGA TOUR LIVE.”
“We’ve worked together with the PGA TOUR on many projects across many platforms and we’re looking forward to taking the next step with PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold,” said Mike McCarley, President, Golf, NBC Sports. “Building upon years of partnership, NBC Sports Group and the PGA TOUR are raising the profile of PGA TOUR LIVE as a complement to the hundreds of live hours of PGA TOUR tournament coverage across Golf Channel and NBC Sports. As we help build PGA TOUR LIVE, we’re fortunate to be able to apply lessons learned from years of digital innovation in covering some of the biggest events in sports via NBC Sports’ best-in-class streaming capabilities.”
In 2019, PGA TOUR LIVE plans to stream more than 360 hours of exclusive subscription coverage, as well as hundreds of hours of free Featured Holes coverage, complementing televised coverage from 28 PGA TOUR events next year. PGA TOUR Entertainment will continue to produce the live coverage. Highlights of the PGA TOUR LIVE subscription package launching on NBC Sports Gold include:
Pre-game Show: a 30-minute preview program that leads into the morning’s live competition coverage.
Featured Groups: early round coverage on Thursday and Friday prior to Golf Channel’s afternoon television window. Featured Groups coverage follows two concurrent, high-profile groups throughout their 18-hole rounds. To-date in 2018, PGA TOUR LIVE has featured entire rounds (outside traditional televised windows) of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, and dozens more.
Featured Holes: live coverage of some of the PGA TOUR’s most iconic holes, concurrent with Golf Channel’s television window (traditionally from 3-6 p.m. ET).
Integrated Statistical Feeds: Users never have to leave the action with integrated live leaderboards and player scorecards.
Comprehensive Viewership Experience: Streamlines the PGA TOUR viewership experience by providing golf fans a continuous platform for streaming via NBC Sports Gold for PGA TOUR LIVE’s, Golf Channel’s and NBC Sports’ coverage windows.
Featured Player Recaps: Users can get caught up on the day’s action with new condensed rounds from each player in the Featured Group coverage.
Event Recaps: Watch an event recap in an hour-long cut down show that highlights the best of that weeks’ tournament.
Pricing options for PGA TOUR LIVE in 2019 will be announced in January. Users who sign up via www.pgatourlive.com will be kept aware of the latest news and announcements related to its 2019 launch on NBC Sports Gold. For golf fans outside of the United States, the same comprehensive PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will be available. More information will be announced by the PGA TOUR at a later date.
Rick Anderson of the PGA Tour discussed the move on Morning Drive:
