Open Championship Set For Pay-tv Switch

02 Feb 2015 | sigadmin

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The Open Championship is set for a switch from the BBC to Sky after the pay-television broadcaster agreed a deal with competition organisers, the R&A, to acquire rights for the British golf major, according to media reports.

The Daily Mail claims that Sky will pay more than £10m per year for the exclusive live rights to the championship, with a contract set to be confirmed early this week.

The length of the agreement has not yet been disclosed, however the result means that the BBC’s 59-year ownership of the exclusive live rights will end after this year’s Open at St Andrews (pictured above) in July.

The Open was recently removed from the list of events protected for free-to-air broadcast, which opened up the potential for deals with pay-television operators.

However, British golfer Lee Westwood branded the move a ‘disgrace’.

He added: “‘I cannot believe The Open isn’t protected as one of the sporting crown jewels. That is an absolute disgrace.

“I wouldn’t be playing the game if I hadn’t watched Greg Norman win The Open at Turnberry in 1986 and Sir Nick Faldo win the following year. The BBC are doing golf no favours at all by letting The Open go, and you have to question the role of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club as well. They are the guardians of the game but it seems to be money-driven.”

The Mail added that the BBC is likely to keep a highlights deal, but reportedly prioritised retaining its rights to the Barclays Premier League football competition – which it confirmed last week in a new three-year deal until 2018/19.

The BBC will pay a total of £204m for the rights – £68m per season – a small increase from the £60m per season in its current three-year deal.