Discovery, PGA Tour ink $ 2bn tie- up

Agame- changing partnership between the PGA Tour and the Discovery that will entail an over $ 2 billion investment from the latter will bring the Tour and its properties to a global audience.

As the PGA Tour reaches out to new markets with more events and more players from around the world, the 12- year partnership starting 2019 and running through to 2020 will create a new dimension to golf following and viewership.

The PGA Tour includes players from countries as far- flung as China, India and Japan as half of the world’s Top- 100 stars are from outside the US making the game more global than it has ever been before.

India has had a PGA Tour winner in Arjun Atwal while Anirban Lahiri is currently a member of the Tour. And now, Shubhankar Sharma is trying to get on to it as well.

Discovery will create what it calls the new global Home of Golf to deliver more than 2,000 hours of live content from the 43 events that are currently played in a single year on the PGA Tour.

Discovery, owner of cable channels including HGTV and Animal Planet, will be using the deal to become the biggest player in live sports.

The 12- year deal will include TV and online rights as Discovery will seek to create a Netflix- like video service which will bring audiences more than 140 tournaments a year, including the more than 40 PGA Tour events.

Discovery has of late acquired numerous events including the European rights to the Olympics through 2024.

One of their biggest successes was the recent Olympic Winter Games in South Korea. The channel established more than 40 free- to- air broadcast partnerships, delivering every minute of the Olympic Games via OTT for the first time across Europe.

It also struck innovative social media partnerships to reach younger audiences, such as establishing Snapchat’s first Olympics collaboration in Europe. Discovery delivered record- breaking TV and digital viewership for the Games, including 63% of the population in Europe interacting on Discovery’s own free- to- air, pay- TV and digital platforms and those of its broadcaster partners.