TNT Agrees To Eight-Year Extension Of PGA Championship Coverage
By Jon Show, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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TNT To Continue Airing Early Round, Limited
Weekend Coverage Of PGA Championship |
Turner Sports and TNT will continue to air early-round and limited weekend coverage of the PGA Championship through ‘19 under an eight-year extension that includes continued management of PGA.com, new digital initiatives and a new commitment to target younger consumers. Turner and the PGA of America will focus more on expanding their digital relationship, which already includes management of PGA.com. Current plans include a social networking component at PGA.com to connect golfers and PGA teaching professionals and further exploration of live online coverage. “There isn’t a sport that lends itself more to digital extensions,” said Turner President of Sales, Distribution & Sports David Levy. Turner also manages PGATour.com and Yahoo’s golf site. As part of the extension, Turner’s Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) will create a consumer product and retail program geared toward children. That will likely include a PGA-branded program on Turner’s Cartoon Network, which plans to launch weekend blocks of youth sports programming in the fourth quarter. It could also include PGA-branded retail items in golf pro shops or youth events, said Levy. CBS airs weekend coverage of the PGA Championship through ‘11, but CBS and the PGA of America would not comment on the status of their extension talks. Levy and PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka declined to speculate whether all four rounds of the PGA Championship could move to TNT depending upon the outcome of those talks. TNT is in its final year of a deal to air coverage of the British Open, which is moving all four rounds to ESPN starting in 2010. ESPN also airs early-round coverage of The Masters, the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup. As for future golf deals, Levy said, “We’re excited about having majors and top of the line golf events, and if more top of the line golf events come available we’ll look at them.” TNT will also continue to air full coverage of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a tournament played in October between the winners of the four majors.
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