The PGA Tour’s efforts to simulcast its TV broadcasts are expanding to China with this week’s WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.
The tour began simulcasting its tournaments online earlier this year, through agreements with its partners CBS and NBC/Golf Channel.
In a new extension of its contract with Sina, a Chinese digital media giant that produces the tour’s official website for the Mandarin-speaking audience, the simulcast will now be available on the China-based site. In the extension, Sina has acquired rights to stream the tour’s weekend broadcasts live on the site, which features content in Mandarin. Some of the content comes from PGATour.com, while additional content is generated by Sina.
The Sina-produced site will pick up the tour’s international feed and run it on its PGA Tour site.
Luis Goicouria, the tour’s vice president of digital media business development, said serving the golf audience in China is a “huge priority for the tour.” Later this year, Goicouria said the tour will introduce mobile and tablet apps in Mandarin, with Sina assisting in that.
