The 2016 British Open "will appear exclusively live" on Sky Sports in the U.K. after the BBC "opted to end its existing deal one year early," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. Sky "won the rights to golf’s oldest major" in a deal worth $22.7M annually through '21. BBC Sport Dir Barbara Slater said that the decision "had been taken for pragmatic financial reasons in light of the ongoing debate over the licence fee and charter renewal." The BBC -- which "had broadcast the event live for more than 60 years -- will continue to show two hours of highlights in prime time." The decision to end the contract now "has echoes of the BBC’s decision" to end its exclusive F1 deal prematurely in "favour of a shared arrangement with Sky." Sports rights at the BBC have "come under increasing pressure over the last two years, with the corporation also losing control of the Olympics" beginning in '22 after the IOC "agreed [to] a pan-European deal with Discovery." The British Open deal means that Sky "will be able to claim that from 2016 it will have exclusive coverage of all four golf majors as well as the Ryder Cup" (GUARDIAN, 9/30). In London, James Corrigan wrote this is "further and final proof that the BBC has completely lost interest in covering golf." It means that after "showing 30 days of live golf" as recently as '10, there will "only be six" in '16. The Ricoh Women's British Open "will also switch to Sky" in '17, with the BBC also "feared to be in danger [of] losing the Saturday and Sunday of the Masters." The "irony is that the Open attracted over five million viewers to the BBC on the Sunday, much more than in recent years" (TELEGRAPH, 9/30). Also in London, Hopkins & Gardner wrote commentator Peter Alliss has said he is "embarrassed" that the BBC has relinquished its grip on the Open Championship a year early after it was announced that Sky Sports would provide the live coverage of the 2016 event at Royal Troon. Alliss, who accepts that the BBC’s financial restrictions made such a decision inevitable, also "attacked the Royal & Ancient, golf’s governing body, for accepting the bigger pay cheque from Sky in return for taking golf’s oldest major championship away from free-to-air television." Alliss said, "A month ago I was told it was going to happen. I am embarrassed that an organization the size of the BBC with its worldwide reputation is in this situation but it is inevitable. Whether we like it or not, golf is a minority sport and covering the Open doesn’t come cheap. I feel sadness that it has come to this" (LONDON TIMES, 9/30).
