Is the Open going to Sky Sports?

Speak Now

Sickened As rare as it is I much prefer bbc coverage to sky. Tim Barter

vienne86

Money money money. It's a bummer for ordinary fans like us, not just in golf.

Dayor Knight

I'm absolutely disgusted to hear this. One of my favourite weekends of the year - just love being able to sit down and watch uninterrupted golf for the biggest event of the year. By far and away the best coverage. .. A sad day.

coylemj

Conspiracy theory: R&A says 'screw you' to the BBC after their viewers fail to vote Rory as the Sports Personality of the Year.

Discuss.

vienne86

coylemj wrote: »

Conspiracy theory: R&A says 'screw you' to the BBC after their viewers fail to vote Rory as the Sports Personality of the Year.

Discuss.

Nah. Just money. But I'm shocked to hear that they are only making an extra lowsy 3 million from this deal.

dan_ep82

Its seems a massive step backwards for trying to bring new players to the game. The other half and my auld lad watched it last year and both tried it for 9 holes. Neither kept it on but it gave them the incentive. I know others will be on terrestrial but being close to home it would have a bigger audience I would have thought.

ForeRight

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Its seems a massive step backwards for trying to bring new players to the game. The other half and my auld lad watched it last year and both tried it for 9 holes. Neither kept it on but it gave them the incentive. I know others will be on terrestrial but being close to home it would have a bigger audience I would have thought.

In regard to the mode be not bringing new players to the game I'm not sure what they are to do. The game is in decline over the last number of years while it's been on bbc as it is.

MisterAnarchy

vienne86 wrote: »

Nah. Just money. But I'm shocked to hear that they are only making an extra lowsy 3 million from this deal.

Well seemingly the R&A weren't happy with the BBC coverage

The BBC had been warned by the R&A during the last two rights renewals about the need to improve their coverage, which is far inferior to Sky’s, who cover golf’s other three majors.

Anyone who honestly thinks that Sky's coverage is better then the BBC would need their head examined .

Too many ads,too many shots of scoreboards,Ewan Murray rambling on and on ,David Livingstone talking through his behind ,and the fact that they only show about 2-3 featured groups whilst ignoring the majority of the field.

Norfolk Enchants_

It's the end of golf as we know it.

Pdoghue

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Well seemingly the R&A weren't happy with the BBC coverage



Anyone who honestly thinks that Sky's coverage is better then the BBC would need their head examined .

Too many ads,too many shots of scoreboards,Ewan Murray rambling on and on ,David Livingstone talking through his behind ,and the fact that they only show about 2-3 featured groups whilst ignoring the majority of the field.

I don't subscribe to Sky Sports. Their coverage of the Ryder Cup was poor in my opinion, e.g. not showing Kaymer's chip until about 10 minutes after the event. However, in fairness, the BBC golf coverage is not great at all. Aliss is the Johnny Giles of golf commentators - out of touch with the modern players and game, and the likes of Brown, James, and Grady are anodyne.

Slicemeister

Hope Monty has a few exemptions into the Open left. I actually like Coltart and Riley. Livingston is a pain in the hole. But those ads jesus h christ!

vienne86

Slicemeister wrote: »

Hope Monty has a few exemptions into the Open left. I actually like Coltart and Riley. Livingston is a pain in the hole. But those ads jesus h christ!

Colthart is very good. And Monty......yes, I hope he's playing.

I liked the BBC coverage though and am surprised the R and A weren't happy with it. That said, Ken Brown's folksy descriptions of the holes irritated me.

Speak Now

Jaysus I forgot about Westwoods brother in law it just keeps getting worse.

vienne86

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Jaysus I forgot about Westwoods brother in law it just keeps getting worse.

I think he's good on Sky.

vienne86

Irish Times take on this:

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/sale-of-british-open-rights-to-sky-hard-to-justify-as-player-numbers-decline-1.2087276

alxmorgan

vienne86 wrote: »

Irish Times take on this:

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/sale-of-british-open-rights-to-sky-hard-to-justify-as-player-numbers-decline-1.2087276

Would agree with that.
I'd imagine a large number of golfers in the UK especially took up the game after spending years watching the Open with their Dad. Short sighted

Mantis Toboggan

Is this gone to sky sports?

I like the coverage on Sky but the non interumpted coverage on BBC is great, can't be dealing with those ads on Sky.

slave1

All this gripe about ads, SS depend on local feeds for coverage, ye should experience the amount of ads in the states, way more than sky, at least they take a lot less than the US when they go back to the commentary team for a minute or so.
I'm sitting on the fence on this one and going to at least give them a chance of their first year's coverage.

Rikand

Ah ffs! The one week of the year where we normally dont have to listen to that insufferable clueless gob****e ewen murray and now that's gone as well.

Benicetomonty

Rikand wrote: »

Ah ffs! The one week of the year where we normally dont have to listen to that insufferable clueless gob****e ewen murray and now that's gone as well.

Ewen Murray knows more about the game than any other commentator I've ever heard. I would say he sometimes has too much good to say about everyone but he is a class commentator imho.

Having said that, I'm very disappointed to see the BBC lose the coverage. No ads and extensive hours was a real treat, and I really enjoyed the work of Dan Walker and a few of the newer additions to the commentary team. Peter Aliss will be no loss; he is long past his sell by date. He still comes out with the odd funny comment but that doesn't make up for otherwise intolerable ramblings. Last couple of years have been almost embarrassing at times; it's no longer a rebellion against the politically correct, it's just plain ignorance.

I think Sky will do a decent job but they have to get rid of Monty, he's just a disaster.

Panrich

I remember (going back to the 80s here) when BBC would have golf on nearly every weekend on Grandstand on both Saturday and Sunday. Alliss was in his prime and later, we had Dave Marr who I thought was great. Great memories for me.

vienne86

Panrich wrote: »

I remember (going back to the 80s here) when BBC would have golf on nearly every weekend on Grandstand on both Saturday and Sunday. Alliss was in his prime and later, we had Dave Marr who I thought was great. Great memories for me.

Yep, and that got me interested in following golf - I couldn't get on with playing because of an injury. Irish Times article is pretty spot on IMO.

diomed

When I was working I took annual leave for the Thursday and Friday of the Open. Now retired it is one of the things I watch all day for the four days.
The R & A have not acted for golf.

denishurley

In an election year, I suppose the British government could hardly be prevailed upon to make it a Category A event?

Wichita Lineman

Money. The root of all evil.

valoren

I hope at the very least it will be the same deal as the Masters Coverage.
i.e. that the weekend coverage is still getting shown on the BBC?

At least we would still have the option of watching the business end of the Open on the BBC that way.

Or am I completely wrong and Sky now have exclusive access with the BBC only showing an hours "highlights" package for Saturday/Sunday rounds?

Trampas

Official they have it.

Let the meltdown commence

Mantis Toboggan

Trampas wrote: »

Official they have it.

Let the meltdown commence

From 2017. Sell out.

sydneybound

Peter Dawson, the chief executive of The R&A, added: “We believe this is the best result for The Open and for golf. The way people consume live sport is changing significantly and this new agreement ensures fans have a range of options for enjoying the Championship on television and through digital channels.

“Sky Sports has an excellent track record in covering golf across its platforms and has become the home of live golf coverage over recent years. We are very much looking forward to working with them to develop and enhance the coverage of The Open.”

---

Disgraceful stuff.... with numbers on the decline then the R&A sell out for a few million more. Surely for the good of the game it needed this one tournament to say on the BBC to the wider audience.

All the blame here should be with the R&A and not Sky.

MisterAnarchy

valoren wrote: »

I hope at the very least it will be the same deal as the Masters Coverage.
i.e. that the weekend coverage is still getting shown on the BBC?

Or am I completely wrong and Sky now have exclusive access with the BBC only showing an hours "highlights" package for Saturday/Sunday rounds?

The BBC will have no rights at all.
The R&A wanted a similar arrangement to the Masters with the BBC getting weekend coverage but Sky wanted exclusive rights and the BBC didnt even bid it seems as they had earmarked some of the money for Match of the Day rights.

Ewen Murray knows more about the game than any other commentator I've ever heard.

I have always found his knowledge of the mechanics of the swing to be poor ,he spoofs alot

Peter Dawson, the chief executive of The R&A, added: “We believe this is the best result for The Open and for golf. The way people consume live sport is changing significantly and this new agreement ensures fans have a range of options for enjoying the Championship on television and through digital channels.

Its an idiotic statement and an idiotic decision to sell out for buttons .
I'm sure alot of the sponsors wont be happy about this .

This will be Dawsons legacy ,he is retiring in September after 16 years in the job .
I cant but feel his retirement fund may have been feathered by this decision.

Harry Palmr

A ****ing disgrace.

quagmire47

It's unfortunate that we'll lose the free High Definition coverage provided by the BBC.

vienne86

sydneybound wrote: »

Peter Dawson, the chief executive of The R&A, added: “We believe this is the best result for The Open and for golf. The way people consume live sport is changing significantly and this new agreement ensures fans have a range of options for enjoying the Championship on television and through digital channels.

“Sky Sports has an excellent track record in covering golf across its platforms and has become the home of live golf coverage over recent years. We are very much looking forward to working with them to develop and enhance the coverage of The Open.”

This is outragious. Feel like boycotting the coverage......which of course, I won't.

Harry Palmr

When England won the Ashes in such dramatic fashion in 2005 the ECB cashed in - consequently that wave of public interest broke quickly as SKY shut out a huge number of "casuals". Sure the ECB were paid an absolute fortune but I bet they quietly regretted spurning that moments potential.

Likewise with the Ryder Cup and the Open now gone from FTA telly beyond highlights the game will just become barely heard background noise for most people.

coylemj

Just posted on BBC Sport ....

The BBC, which has previously broadcast the tournament live, will now show a two-hour daily highlights package between 20:00 and 22:00.

The BBC will show this year's Open at St Andrews and the 2016 tournament at Royal Troon live on television.

From 2017, the BBC will continue to provide live radio coverage of the tournament on BBC Radio 5 live, and to cover the tournament online

Followed by crocodile tears and meaningless platitudes from their director of sport.....

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/golf/31114083

MisterAnarchy

Well there wont be many ads on Sky which is some small consolation

Under the new agreement, the number of commercial breaks during the television coverage of The Open will be kept to a maximum of four minutes per hour, with each break running for just 60 seconds.

sydneybound

vienne86 wrote: »

This is outragious. Feel like boycotting the coverage......which of course, I won't.

Exactly I feel the same but have Sky Sports so will obviously watch as I have done all my life. It's just the causal fan in I'm worried about.

Sports like golf, cricket and rugby need need to be on free to air TV otherwise they'll suffer in participation rates.

The interesting thing is the BBC didn't even try to bid for the rights..... they have lumped all their money on Match of the Day TV rights.

BigChap1759

coylemj wrote: »

Just posted on BBC Sport ....

The BBC, which has previously broadcast the tournament live, will now show a two-hour daily highlights package between 20:00 and 22:00.

The BBC will show this year's Open at St Andrews and the 2016 tournament at Royal Troon live on television.

From 2017, the BBC will continue to provide live radio coverage of the tournament on BBC Radio 5 live, and to cover the tournament online

Followed by crocodile tears and meaningless platitudes from their director of sport.....

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/golf/31114083

This is it in a nutshell - the BBC made a derisory offer as they wanted to prioritise Match of The Day and the powers that be in the Beeb do not value sporting events any more.

I honestly don't think they were bothered to lose it.

I will miss the continuous BBC coverage though from first thing through to late - quite a unique viewing experience that is not likely to be seen again

What are the R&A supposed to do??

charlieIRL

sydneybound wrote: »

..... they have lumped all their money on Match of the Day TV rights.

where did you read that?

sydneybound

charlieIRL wrote: »

where did you read that?

They spent £204 on match of the day rights for three years.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/03/sky-sports-buys-open-championship-golf-bbc

Watch the Six Nations will be next to go....

ForeRight

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Well there wont be many ads on Sky which is some small consolation

That's very welcome news in what's generally regarded as a bad news story

Keano

While I understand the outrage, the BBC didn't exactly fight very hard to keep it!

TheDoc

Can't say I've got agitated at all. Maybe I'm just use to watching golf on sky for so many years?

Was lucky enough that my father was into enough sport that Sky Sports was always in the house, so I've just essentially grown up with Sky Sports on for golf and football.

What irks me more is how the football packages are being split out between Bt and Sky, meaning that you either shell out 100+ euro a month for both packages or rely on online streams.

Bit naive for people to think this maybe wasn't going to happen. With the Premier League Tv rights becoming more segregated ( remember that Sky also lost their champions league dominance) it's obvious they would target something else that would draw traction, and the Open is one of them.

Can't honestly say I'm flustered about this at all. Obviously the pages of people moaning about ads don't know how television coverage works, as Sky run little advertisement on the sporting events where they control the feed.

Russman

Apologies if I've missed it from earlier posts, but I can't seem to find it mentioned, do we know how long the new deal with Sky is for ?

valoren

Russman wrote: »

Apologies if I've missed it from earlier posts, but I can't seem to find it mentioned, do we know how long the new deal with Sky is for ?

5 years.

Mantis Toboggan

Russman wrote: »

Apologies if I've missed it from earlier posts, but I can't seem to find it mentioned, do we know how long the new deal with Sky is for ?

5 years from 2017

HighLine

Whilst it's a shame and was predictable considering BBC pulling the plug on most other sports... Formula 1, Snooker, Tennis etc., I'm not sure I understand the hatred for Sky. They put on a great show for every event of the year and yes the ad breaks are annoying, but they have no hand in the amount of breaks in US coverage and constantly apologize and say it's out of their hands.

I will miss the BBC coverage though... especially liked when Ken Browne would wonder around the course. Also, they started to do a few aerial shots from a drone segments with Ken which I thought were really good and keeping up to date with technology (contrary to the R&A's opinion).

The Premier Man

The Premier Man wrote: »

Im delighted, the bbc coverage annoyed me.looking at flowers or a bird on a tree and then the commentators rambling on about golfers from years ago many were even club golfers.it was outdated compared to sky with the shot centre and analysis from pros that are in or around the current game.sky get my vote anyway all day everyday and twice on a sunday!

What was particularly wonderful about the coverage of the Open was precisely that with no ad breaks and thus plenty of time in hand, Alliss was able to say hello to (and remember) the many golfers and club members he'd interacted with over the years.

There was a real feeling that the coverage was the golf community having its day in the sun.

Obviously Peter Alliss is probably an insufferable tory bore in real life but on TV and talking about golf he was relaxed and funny in a way you will never get on 'americanised' Sky coverage.

I would take him saying "ooo that's gone a mile" and then warbling on about some now retired amateur champion who could only hit it to point x on the same hole, over sky telling us exactly how far the ball flew and what bubba's average drive has been this weekend, over the season, and where he sits in the PGA rankings for driving distance etc etc etc ad nauseum.

sydneybound

HighLine wrote: »

Whilst it's a shame and was predictable considering BBC pulling the plug on most other sports... Formula 1, Snooker, Tennis etc

What are you talking about?!!!

They still show about 10 GP's a year in F1 they haven't lost all the rights.

They show The Masters and World Champs in Snooker

In Tennis they still show Wimbledon, Queens, Eastbourne and the odd Davies cup match.

They show next to no golf so your point is pretty much incorrect.

HighLine

sydneybound wrote: »

What are you talking about?!!!

They still show about 10 GP's a year in F1 they haven't lost all the rights.

They show The Masters and World Champs in Snooker

In Tennis they still show Wimbledon, Queens, Eastbourne and the odd Davies cup match.

They show next to no golf so your point is pretty much incorrect.

I thought it was fairly obvious... maybe not for you. BBC had exclusive Live F1 coverage... they now show less than half the races because they were not willing to pay against Sky and in the deal... they lose Monaco and the opening race.

Most of the live snooker is now shown on Eurosport rather than BBC... they show the big events but not the smaller events like they used to.

Wimbledon was also at risk of being cut. Have a little read here to see "what I'm talking about". Wimbledon and Formula One at risk as BBC seeks sports cuts