R&A To Consider Pay TV Partner For Open Rights

British golf’s governing body is considering abandoning its free-to-air television coverage of the Open Championships, according to media reports, ahead of negotiations of its next broadcasting deal.

Telegraph Sport has claimed that the tender process for the 155-year-old competition was already well underway on Thursday, with the R&A set to decide whether to embrace pay-TV for the first time.

The R&A has stood by the BBC as exclusive rights holders for more than half a century, despite live Open coverage being removed from the list of ‘protected’ events for terrestrial broadcast.

The current BBC deal expires after 2016, with the newspaper reporting that the governing body may attempt to negotiate a similar deal to that of the US Masters, coverage – shared by the terrestrial broadcaster and Sky since 2011.

Sky has live rights for all four days of the tournament, with the BBC able to show the final two rounds and highlights of days one and two.

Sky Sports currently holds the exclusive rights to the Ryder Cup, US Open, PGA Championship and PGA and European Tours.