Sky Sports will show exclusively live coverage of the PGA Tour until at least '22 thanks to a new seven-year deal announced on Monday. The rights, which begin in '15, extend Sky's partnership with the Tour into its 30th year. The agreement with the US PGA Tour comprises the PGA Tour -- 32 events live, including the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, The Players Championship from Sawgrass and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard from Bay Hill, the Fedex Cup playoffs -- all four season-ending events and the Presidents Cup -- the next four biennial matches between the U.S. and an int'l team representing the rest of the world minus Europe in '15, '17, '19 and '21 (Sky Sports). The customized content is the first deliverable from the Tour’s new Transmission Hub, a mobile production facility that was developed to enhance the Tour’s capability to produce and distribute specific live content for digital platforms and int'l TV broadcasts directly from tournament sites. The Hub has the capability of taking 10 simultaneous live feeds from the golf course, from single camera to full production (PGA Tour). BROADCAST NOW's Peter White wrote Sky Sports "has also revealed plans to launch a PGA Tour Match Centre app, featuring additional digital content, online and via iPads." The agreement "is the latest to be struck by Sky Sports after it announced deals to broadcast British & Irish Lions rugby, Super League, WWE wrestling, Scottish football, New Zealand cricket and speedway last week" (BROADCAST NOW, 2/10).
