BRENDAN JAMES

IF you have spent any time watching a pay-TV service you will be familiar with the Discovery Channel. You know the one … documentaries on animals, space and lots of other scientific marvels.

Well, Discovery is no longer just a channel. It is a massive company now known as Discovery Inc. and, as a golf fan, you will be hearing more about Discovery in years to come. Here’s why. Discovery recently struck a $2 billion deal to acquire the international television and streaming rights to PGA Tour golf through to 2030. The move is the latest high-profile sports agreement for the factual giant, following its successful Olympics debut earlier this year through its Eurosport division.

The deal gives Discovery online and TV broadcast rights to more than 140 golf tournaments a year including around 40 PGA Tour events. The deal begins in January 2019 and covers all territories outside of the United States.

It is expected to stream many events on a new PGA Tour-branded OTT service. An OTT service refers to content providers that distribute streaming media as a standalone product directly to consumers over the internet, bypassing any television platforms. At the same time, Discovery CEO David Zaslav noted that the “total flexibility” of the deal could also allow the partners to launch a new portfolio of golf-centric channels around the world.

He added that there was a potential future audience for the PGA Tour of four billion and Discovery will become the “new global home of golf.”

So what does this all mean for you, the Aussie golf fan who may or may not subscribe to FoxSports? Well it’s all a little unclear at this stage but I suspect it’s going to get a whole lot easier to access golf on your phone, tablet or computer without being a FoxSports subscriber. And what does it mean for the PGA Tour? It means a lot more money…serious money…steadily flowing into the coffers. But I can’t help but think they might have undersold their product.

In 2015, the AFL inked a broadcast rights agreement of $2.508 million for six years and the latest figures available show approximately 7.8 million Australians watch the AFL on TV every year.

Compare that to $2 billion for a potential audience of 4 billion globally … Discovery might have just made the deal of the century.